tonight at 10pm, the latest from washington, where the most divisive presidential battle of modern times has yet to produce a winner. donald trump has outperformed the pollsters‘ predictions, but the race could go either way, and he's claiming without evidence that the election is being stolen. this is a fraud on the american public. this is an embarrassment to our country. we were getting ready to win this election. frankly, we did win this election. cheering within the past hour, joe biden, the democratic candidate, has expressed confidence and called for patience until all the votes have been counted. we, the people, will not be silenced.

we, the people, will not be bullied. we, the people, will not surrender. my friends, i am confident we will emerge victorious. seven states have yet to declare, including pennsylvania, and these are the states that will decide who's president for the next four years. the trump campaign is taking legal action to try and affect the counting of absentee ballots here in pennsylvania. the man leading the cou nty tells pennsylvania. the man leading the county tells me he is unconcerned. —— leading the count. across the united states, there's a mix of tension and uncertainty, as the final outcome could take time to resolve. this election is still on a knife edge but, by very fine margins, it seems that momentum is going injoe biden‘s direction. we'll have the story of a turbulent

2a hours and we'll be asking what these events tell us about the health of us democracy. also tonight... on the eve of england's lockdown, the head of nhs england says hospitals are now back at the highest alert level. and the new guidance allowing relatives to visit their loved ones in care homes in england. and coming up on the bbc news channel, we'll have all the latest news on the race for the white house, bringing you the key developments in the us presidential election. good evening. one of the most divisive battles in the history of us presidential elections has yet to produce a winner. the results from several states are still too close to call, so american voters don't know whether it will be donald trump or joe biden occupying the white house for the next four years. president trump has been widely

criticised for claiming victory at an early stage, and for questioning the validity of postal votes without producing any evidence. joe biden‘s team say they're confident, and that they'll claim victory when the votes have been counted. so far, 43 of the 50 states have declared their results, with the democratic candidate joe biden on 215 electoral college votes, and the republican donald trump on 214. the number needed to win overall — and to occupy the white house — is 270. we'll have the story of a dramatic and volatile 2a hours. we'll be looking at the results to come, and we'll be asking what this election says about the state of us democracy. we start in washington with our north america editor, jon sopel. thank you. the democratic party was

hoping to win so decisively last night that it would prove that donald trump's victory in 2016 was an aberration, a foolish holiday romance with the american people that had come to an end. that didn't happen. donald trump got more votes last night and he did in 2016 but, that said, joe biden has won more votes tha n that said, joe biden has won more votes than any presidential candidate in history and, at the moment, as things stand, the momentum is shifting towardsjoe biden. the hoopla of election night in the us and, as the polls close, the democrats are talking bullishly. joe biden is on a smooth path to victory. smooth? what a fantasy that turned out to be. donald trump was performing way better than the polls predicted, nowhere more so than florida, the sunshine state that was once again a black cloud for democrats. cbs news projects

president trump has won florida. but then fox made a big call forjoe biden out west? we arizona forjoe biden. that is a big get. may be the 77—year—old could still it was clear he thought so and, just after midnight, he came out and told his supporters this. i am here to tell you tonight we believe we are on track to win this election. cheering we knew because of the unprecedented early voting and mailing vote it was going to take a while. we are going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished, and itain‘t work of tallying votes is finished, and it ain't over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. that brought an immediate, furious response from the president, tweeting that the democrats were trying to steal the election. and

then, just before 2:30am, a night that had been simmering exploded. donald trump entering the east room of the white house to make this statement. this is a fraud on the american public. this is an embarrassment to our country. we we re embarrassment to our country. we were getting ready to win this election. frankly, we did win this election. cheering there is no evidence of fraud at all and the votes that remain to be counted were cast on or before polling day, and the president ratcheted up the tension still further, saying he wanted the supreme court, which now has a decisive conservative majority, to order a halt to counting. for the good of this nation, this is a very big moment, this is our majorfraud on our nation —— a majorfraud on oui’ on our nation —— a majorfraud on our nation and we want the law to be used in the proper manner, so we

will be going to the us supreme court. we want all voting to stop. we don't want them to find any ballots at 4am and add them to the list. 0k? for the moment, counting continues on postal votes in these key swing states, which were always expected to givejoe biden and advantaged after he encouraged his supporters to vote by mail and the president railed against it. tension is still great, and that was palpable on the streets around the white house last night, as black lives matter protesters gathered. in the dawn light, things are becoming clearer. there are still millions of ballots to be protest, dash and preprocessed, butjoe biden has won wisconsin and is projected to win michigan. no declaration of victory yet, but it wasn't far short. after a long night of counting, it is clear we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. i am not here

to win the presidency. i am not here to declare that we have won. but i am here to report that, when the count has finished, we believe we will be the winners. there is though still a fragile undies, with shops and offices boarded up. this could still get bumpy and americans will need to show patience, trust and fortitude, commodities in desperately short supply. it's been a day of really sharp fluctuations and, as the evening comes, so fluctuations and, as the evening comes, sojoe fluctuations and, as the evening comes, so joe biden fluctuations and, as the evening comes, sojoe biden is looking good. with that declaration and the declarations of wisconsin and michigan, he is within touching distance of those 270 electoral couege distance of those 270 electoral college votes, he is ahead in nevada and arizona, they should declare tomorrow. if that doesn't change, joe biden will cross the threshold of 270 votes and will claim the presidency. we will talk again later about some other aspects of the night. thank you for now, jon sopel in

washington. within the past hour, joe biden has emerged to delivered his message to the american people, saying he's confident of victory but not yet declaring he's won. he said people should be patient until every vote had been counted. as we said, several battleground states have yet to declare, so let's join our north america correspondent nick bryant at the biden campaign headquarters in wilmington, delaware. nick, what did you make of the tone and content of mr biden‘s address a short while ago? it was a conventionally presidential style speech from the man who now believes he is going to be the next president. the tone so starkly different from donald trump's comments at the white house last night, and that was precisely the point. it's been a point ofjoe biden‘s candidacy throughout this to present himself as the anti—trump. he has set out his case and won more votes nationally than donald trump.

that is true but irrelevant in the us electoral system. he has won more votes tha n us electoral system. he has won more votes than any other presidential candidate in us history, also true but again irrelevant, but crucially he now believes he has the votes where it matters. wisconsin, michigan, arizona and nevada, the four states that will get him to that magical number of 270. joe biden is surrounded by veterans of the florida recount, and one reason they believe george w bush ended up as the president in 2000 was he created the narrative earlier on that he was the true winner, that he was the true president—elect, and that al gore did not come up with a counter narrative that was persuasive enough. they are determined not to let that happen 110w. determined not to let that happen now. this speech was part of that, pa rt now. this speech was part of that, part of their post—election campaign. thank you, nick bryant at the biden headquarters in

wilmington. as we've said, winning the white house is not necessarily a matter of winning the popular vote but securing the key states to win a majority in what's called the electoral college — the mechanism for electing a us president. each state is allocated votes in the electoral college according to the size of its population. and a candidate needs 270 votes to become president. right now, the path to 270 looks more challenging for mr trump than it does for mr biden, but it's all very close. donald trump secured an early triumph for the republicans in the state of florida — always a very significant state on election night. but the results are still to come in a handful of other states, and these are the ones that will eventually settle the result. they include wisconsin and pennsylvania — once the heart of america's manufacturing industry, where votes are still being counted. we'll be going live to michigan and pennsylvania in a moment,

but first to arizona, where donald trump won last time, butjoe biden‘s people say they're ahead now. 0ur correspondent sophie long reports. we believe one of the nets has suggested we've already won arizona, we are confident about arizona. that's a turnaround. in arizona, we have a lot of life in that and somebody said, somebody declared, it was a victory, and maybe it will be. after a premature call, words urging calm and caution, counting continues, and there's still no categoric confirmation that arizona will go tojoe biden. though some news networks and democrats have called it. arizona did thejob, so we still have to make sure that every vote is counted, because we want everyone's voices to be heard, but arizona showed up and showed out today, and i'm so proud of my state, and i'm so proud of my county. democratic success here is the result of cultural and demographic shifts.

and months of street pounding, doorknocking, and some of the most frenzied campaigning this state ever seen. republicans who gathered to celebrate saving their state from the liberal left packed up a party that never got started. i am discouraged and a little down about arizona, but i'm still hopeful for nationally, that we are going to win. trump is a very solid, excellent candidate. arizona just has some leadership issues, at the governor and arizona republican party level. 0thers, though, are refusing to concede defeat, and talking about recounts, protests and legal challenges. the expectation is they have their act together and we see results tonight, then hopefully they are positive for the president. and it looks like right now like they are trending that way, and i think the biden campaign is getting very nervous about that because they think they have to win arizona. if they don't win arizona, they're toast. after a night of confusion, what is clear is that the once reliably republican grand canyon state is now a true battle ground,

and the fact the fight is so close reflects the deep chasm that continues to divide people here and in states across the country. sophie long, bbc news, arizona. in the state of michigan, which has been won byjoe biden, president trump's campaign has started legal action to try to stop the remaining votes being counted. they say they haven't been given access to watch the opening and counting of ballots. 0ur correspondent lebo diseko is at a count in detroit. what is the latest there? well, it has been a very long night and a very long day here at this centre, where those ballots were being processed, particularly those postal ballots, very important ballots being counted. around 95% of votes in this state have been counted. as

you said, joe biden has won this state. there were really ugly scenes at the centre earlier, both republicans and democrats saying they were being barred from entering they were being barred from entering the building and this room. we saw people banging on the windows, demanding to be let in. now, that is the basis of donald trump's action in this state. he said republicans had been barred from meaningful access to viewing what is happening and observing proceedings here. many people had been worried that this election result would end up in front of the supreme court, and certainly donald trump's action may well lay the way for that, with such tight results, trust in this process is going to be really important. thank you for the latest in detroit, michigan, lebo diseko. in this election, there has been a record turnout and a record number of postal votes, as states tried to make voting safe during the pandemic.

under the rules, most voters were allowed to post their ballots up to and including election day, even if they're delivered after polling stations have closed. but the trump campaign argues that these votes should only be counted if they were actually delivered on election day. in the key battleground state of pennsylvania, the authorities say the record number of postal votes has put extra pressure on officials. my colleague, clive myrie, is in the state's largest city, philadelphia, with the latest. with there is an irony in the middle of all this, because in some of those battle ground states where there is huge controversy over the counting of mail—in ballots and absentee ballots, as here in philadelphia in pennsylvania, its republican lawmakers who refused to allow local authorities, mainly democrats, to start the process of counting those absentee ballots earlier in the election cycle. now

what are we left with? chaos, anger and recrimination. all this should be redundant now. the election ephemera of the night before. it is the morning after election day. and as we very well knew might be the case, we are still awaiting a result... here in pennsylvania — and a handful of other crucial states in america — conversations reflect an election still in play. 0ver breakfast tables this morning, and possibly dinner tables tomorrow night. marie pizzo and mary lorenzo are sprightly 80—somethings who've seen a lot in their lives, but nothing like this. they've got a lot of... ..lots of votes yet to count. i always say, "may the better man win, and let's hope that when they are in office, they do the right thing." period. but who will be in office? it's still unclear.

here in philadelphia, they were counting absentee and mail—in ballots through the night — with a million left to process by the morning. and now the trump campaign is taking legal action in pennsylvania. the man leading the count told me he's unconcerned. i want it over with two more than anyone else, i assure you. but that being said, we have to get it right. we cannot get it wrong. there are no do overs when it comes to counting elections. but why all the problems? covid—19. republicans are comfortable voting in person while democrats voted by mail. that's where we are... listen to brian rosenwald, a former senior election official here in philadelphia. you have to open in pennsylvania an outer envelope, check a signature, then separate out an inner envelope, open that one, and then get the ballot out. it takes time when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of ballots in some of these counties.

and the public officials in pennsylvania, in michigan, wisconsin all said it was going to take time. you voted back in october? october 23. in the middle of all the chaos, seemingly forgotten, the voter. debbie smith checked online last night to see if her early vote had been counted, and she couldn't find it. it wasn't there. it stilljust said mail—in. are you nervous it still might not be there? i know. so now it's there. it's there and recorded. so it's there.

late afternoon and other worried voters are on the streets. they all completed their ballots in good faith. will america respect their wishes? clive myrie, bbc news, in philadelphia. millions of people have also been voting for politicians who'll represent them in the two houses of the us congress. despite the democrats being favoured to win the senate majority, the republicans appeared poised to retain control this evening. meanwhile the democrats look set to keep control of the house of representatives. as we heard, president trump has raised the prospect of a wave of legal action to challenge results in marginal states, and he's even mentioned involving the supreme court, a process that could take some time to unfold. 0ur north america editor, jon sopel, is in washington. can we talk about the next few days? you mentioned earlierjoe biden seems to have the edge at the moment, but lots could happen in the meantime. yes, lots could happen, there have been so many twists and turns so why shouldn't we expect more? at the moment fortune seems to favourjoe biden but it could easily swing back again if suddenly a whole

pile of votes go for donald trump in arizona or nevada. that said, in the next few days, think of normal elections, you vote, count and declare a winner. but in this election it will be a two—part drama. part one is the voting and counting. part two will be the legal action that follows was not already, donald trump, who we knew was very litigious in his business career, is proving equally litigious as a politician and has launched suits against the count in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania and is talking about taking it to the supreme court as well. that could slow things down massively and could potentially alter the outcome of the election. as well as that, it goes hand in hand with the other knees in the country, everywhere around washington is boarded up. there is a fear of social unrest. —— and ease around the country. what will really worried people is the longer the

uncertainty goes on, the more people might be tempted to take the law into their own hands. we are nowhere near a resolution on this in terms of politics or the social side of this, and that causes a lot of people much knees. jon sopel in washington, thank you. —— much unease. we'll have more from the us before the end of the programme. but let's turn to the day's other news. the house of commons has approved the four—week lockdown in england, which starts at midnight tonight. people must stay at home except for valid reasons, including work, education, essential shopping, exercise and medical reasons. people can't mix with other households in homes or private gardens, but meeting one person from another household in a public space is allowed. pubs and restaurants must close, but they can continue deliveries and takeaways — which, in a change of policy, can now include alcohol. nonessential shops, hairdressers, gyms and pools must also close, and there are no exemptions for amateur sport. while the majority of mps

backed the restrictions, the government faced a sizeable opposition from its own backbenches, as our deputy political editor, vicki young, reports. in bristol today, the queueing started early — shoppers making the most of the final few hours before lockdown. we're crazy. got up at 6:30 just to get here. it may be more than a month, it's going to be more than 2nd december. we don't like it, but it's probably sensible. another period of strict national measures across england wasn't the plan, but borisjohnson headed to the commons to tell mps that, once again, he was ordering tight restrictions on lives, liberties and business. mr speaker, all members feel the pain and anxiety that we're all going to share in the month ahead. but, as prime minister, when i'm confronted with data that projects our nhs could even collapse, with deaths in the second wave potentially exceeding those of the first, i can reach only one conclusion. i'm not prepared to take the risk with the lives

of the british people. he assured mps that the restrictions would be time—limited, legally expiring on december 2nd. the labour leader supports this lockdown, but says it should have happened earlier, as he and many scientists had called for. there have been huge mistakes made in recent weeks during this pandemic. we've been told so many times by the prime minister, often on a wednesday afternoon, there's a plan to prevent a second wave, it's working, when there wasn't and it didn't. and now, less than four months after the prime minister told us that this would all be over by christmas, we're being asked to approve emergency regulations to shut the country down. and many conservatives aren't convinced. the business case against it is overwhelming. for me, madam deputy speaker, the case is not proven, the measures proposed are not proportionate, and i can't vote for them. they're putting down legislation on how people live their lives in their private homes. that is not a space we should enter easily. madam deputy speaker, it stinks.

whatever the problem, collapsing the economy and destroying people's jobs and livelihoods can never be the right solution. although the government easily won today's vote, some conservative mps are already anxious about what might happen in december and beyond. these regulations will disappear, but it's not clear exactly what will replace them, and some mps fear that a return to normality is a very long way off. boris johnson‘s confident tighter measures will get virus numbers down and says he's more optimistic than he has been for months. businesses forced to close tonight might not share that sentiment. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. the latest government figures show there were 25,177 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means that the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is now 22,398. 1,445 people have been admitted

to hospital on average each day over the week to last saturday. and 492 deaths were reported — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means, on average, in the past week, 295 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 47,742. the head of the nhs in england says hospitals are now on the highest alert level, back to where they were during the first peak of the pandemic. sir simon stevens told the bbc that hospitals are already three times busier than in a normal winter period. he also said that gps are preparing to administer a coronavirus vaccine by christmas, should one become available. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has the latest. for those who question how stretched

hospitals really are, today saw nhs leaders spelling out what they described as a serious situation, with a likelihood of continuing increases in coronavirus patient numbers. sir simon stevens, head of nhs england visiting a facility for cancer treatment and routine surgery due to open soon at london's university college hospital said covid was putting intense pressure on the health service. in a normal winter, even in a bad flu season, hospitals might be looking after an extra 3000 inpatients with complications of flu. right now, the flu season has not really kicked off and we're dealing with over 10,000 coronavirus patients. and so on that measure this is already three times worse than the extra burdens that would be placed on hospitals overwinter. some hospitals in the northwest of england have started postponing routine operations. should patients in other parts of england expect

the possibility of postponement? the extent to which our hospitals are able to continue operating, firing on all cylinders for the full range of patients, obviously, partly depends on how many coronavirus patients they are having to look after. that number has gone up very sharply over the last three or four weeks. the action we can all take now can potentially stop that in its tracks. at a media briefing, a leading intensive care consultant spelled out the reality on the front line. my experience is very similar to what my colleagues all around the country tell me. it's full of patients who have covid, of varying ages, who are all sick, some of whom die. one way through would be the development of a vaccine, and today's message from the nhs — we'll be really to deliver when it's available. if some vaccine does become

available before christmas, then obviously gps, high street pharmacists, nurses, our other staff, will be ready to begin. but the bulk of the vaccination programme is likely to be in the first part of next year. but for now, the covid death toll keeps on raising, toll keeps on rising, with more than 2000 reported in the latest week — the highest since may. and based on what they are seeing, hospitals say it will increase further this month. hugh pym, bbc news. the john lewis partnership is planning to cut up to 1500 head officejobs in an effort to lower costs across its business. the company, which also owns waitrose supermarkets, said reducing positions at its sites in london and bracknell would save £50 million. lloyds banking group is to cut more than 700 jobs as it continues to restructure its business.

the owner of lloyds bank — halifax and bank of scotland — said the job losses will not result in branch closures. it's the company's second major round ofjob cuts in two months. marks & spencer has suffered its first loss in its 94 years as a publicly—listed company. the retailer lost nearly £88 million in the six months to september, with clothes sales in particular hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown. new guidance was issued today allowing relatives to visit their loved ones in care homes in england. since march, if care homes accepted visits, it could only be under very limited circumstances. but, after a high—profile campaign, and despite the new lockdown, visits will be possible, but care homes will still have to obey strict rules. the alzheimer's society said tonight that the guidance doesn't go far enough. 0ur social affairs correspondent, alison holt, has the story. my 97—year—old nan here, who we have taken from the care home... this is a sign of one family's desperation over covid restrictions