this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. still no final result in the us presidential election as counting continues in a handful of battle ground states. but democratjoe biden is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. meanwhile, the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states and wants a recount in wisconsin. protestors have been gathering outside election centres in phoenix in arizona, and detroit in michigan, claiming some votes weren't counted properly. a month—long lockdown begins today in england to combat the spread of coronavirus.

more plans to boost the uk economy. an extra £150 billion is available to help with the pandemic and the chancellor will give details later of extending the furlough scheme. supemarket sainsbury‘s announces it is cutting 3,500 jobs in the uk. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the result of the us election remains in the balance, as votes continue to be counted in key battle ground states. joe biden is inching closer to victory after claiming michigan overnight, with reports suggesting

he will take more key states today. but the trump campaign is taking legal action in several areas, calling for counts to be stopped. 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. georgia is an important battle ground state where the president's lead overjoe biden continues to narrow. with 95% of the vote counted, donald trump holds 49.6% of the vote, butjoe biden with 49.1% isn't far behind. arizona is another one of those states. with 86% of the vote counted, joe biden is ahead there with 50.5% of the vote.

0ur north america correspondent ben wright reports. there are still millions of votes to count, and this presidential race is not decided. in georgia, donald trump kept the narrowest of leads over joe biden as ballots were tallied late in the night. it was a scene repeated in the handful of states that will now decide this election. at the moment, it isjoe biden sounding confident. he currently has more electoral college votes than his rival and chalked up vital wins in the midwest, michigan, a democratic gain, and wisconsin looks to have gone the same way. here, the people rule. power can't be taken or asserted. it flows from the people. it is their will that determines who will be the president of the united states, and their will alone. in nevada, the two candidates

are neck and neck and the state will release more results on thursday. in arizona, once a republican stronghold, joe biden stayed slightly ahead while election officials counted the remaining postal ballots. after president trump prematurely declared victory and erroneously claimed in a tweet to have won states he hadn't, republicans filed a string of lawsuits and complaints. we're going to win pennsylvania, but they're going to try and cheat us out of it because they know it's their only path to victory. they know it's the only path to victory. we came here today and met with all our lawyers and we are going to file a suit in pennsylvania. after an attempt by the trump campaign to stop the count in michigan, the state's chief election officer called the lawsuit meritless. we're focused on getting this right in a way that can withstand any court challenges. i'll also mention we've seen this not just in michigan but in other states. a lot of times court challenges or allegations are thrown around to further political agendas, as opposed to actual legal claims. we could still be waiting

a while to discover who the next president will be as an unprecedented volume of postal votes are counted. but it's the current occupant of the white house who is trying to catch up. let mejust explain let me just explain that you might see different numbers and percentages because some new sites are adding on prospective wins to respective candidates' tallies. 0ther respective candidates' tallies. other sites, including others, are waiting for confirmed wins, so i hope that explains why you might be seeing different tallies. let's take a look at how some of the other key states are doing. in pennsylvania, with 89%

of the vote counted — president donald trump is slightly ahead of his rival joe biden with 50.7%. joe biden is in the lead in nevada, another key state, he's got 49.3% of the vote there so far. and we're expecting a result from wisconsin soon. 99% of the vote has been counted, with democratic candidatejoe biden looking on track to win the state. very fine margins everywhere. 0ur north america correspondent david willis joins us from los angeles. the numbers are tight, tighter than anyone expected in the days and weeks immediately ahead of this vote. who is looking the likely winner at this stage? joe biden's campaign have said they are confident they will get the keys to the white house? you are absolutely right. there is a lot going on here

and a lot of vote counting still to ta ke and a lot of vote counting still to take place in several of the key battle ground states. the race very tight indeed in many of those states. particularly, for example, pennsylvania, where around 90% of the votes have already been counted and donald trump was leading joe biden, but with more than 700,000 votes still to be counted, they are in pennsylvania, most are from the heavily democrat city of philadelphia, hence it is very difficult to know what sort of outcome there is going to be in that state. pennsylvania ditto. georgia, thatis state. pennsylvania ditto. georgia, that is now a must win state for donald trump, reports suggest that his lead is shrinking in the state of georgia as more and more postal ballots are counted. so the latest figures show about 90,000 votes still to be counted in the state of

georgia. it could take several more days to get all these votes done or even longer, of course, if there are legal challenges, as there have been already in states such as pennsylvania. that could drag this whole process out for quite a lot longer. we have seen protests in the middle of all of this. we have seen protests in arizona and michigan. i think we can show our reviewers pictures of protests happening at various counts. what is the latest you're hearing on that? there have been protests in cities across this country, and eat. you mentioned portland, oregon. we've seen protests in new york city and in arizona where people at one point took two polling stations. there have been some rather threatening scenes in other places across the country. emblematic, if you like, of

the sort of tension, the pent—up antagonism that we have seen throughout this election, which threatens to boil over the longer this vote counting process and the uncertainty continues. a lot of people are saying that whoever wins, this country is still deeply divided. i might add thatjoe biden has 71 million votes, that's the highest total of any person running for president here, donald trump has 68. that demonstrates how this country is split down the middle. perhaps the easiest way to phrase this awkward question, to predict

when we will have a definitive answer, but let me ask it this way, how do you think will be the first candidate to get to those 260 —— 270 electoral college votes? my crystal ball is locked away in the closet right now! certain states will determine the outcome, for example, georgia. donald trump needs to win that state. if he does not, thenjoe biden i think fairly swiftly afterwards might be declaring victory in this election. but it's a numbers game. either of these candidates has to get to that precious 270 electoral college votes and at the moment neither is anywhere close and this election still has everything to play for. this is what we mean when we hear the candidates talking about a pathway to victory. david, thank you very much.

mail—in ballots are still being counted in the state of georgia. 0ur correspondent, larry madowo, spoke to an election official who described the process in fulton county. right now, they get a tray of ballots, they will put it through the opener extractors and then once they get them out of the envelopes they will go over to these people that are flattening them and preparing them for the scanners in the back. once they go through the scanners, we take a thumb—drive over over there and that vote review panel will look at any of the ballots that have been flagged by the software where voter intent is in question. what they'll do is determine how the voter, what the voter's intent was. they wanted to vote for this candidate or that candidate. so all these ballots that are being counted here, they must have been received by when?

7pm on election day. is it possible to add any ballots after that to this group? no, we closed all of our drop boxes at 7pm on election night and if we didn't receive anything in the mail by 7pm on election night, anything that was received after that is rejected. so you say there is 140,000 of these? yes, about 142,000, yes. so you are down to the last 14,000 or so? yes. what is the average progress you are making in an hour? we have been doing about 3,500 an hour the last couple of hours and that has actually accelerated as the day has gone by. hopefully we will be able to push on through and get done with this by 6am, 7am. president trump's team is mounting a legal challenge because they think in some parts of this state that some ballots were introduced after that time, did any of that happen in fulton county?

no, we had teams at all 38 drop boxes lock those boxes right at 7pm and anything that was... we only received ballots up until 7pm through the mail. anything that would have been after that would have been put in the reject pile. i spoke with you about three weeks ago when you were planning this, what has been more surprising for you now that it is actually happening? we had 25 covid infections in our warehouse since i saw you last, which pretty much devastated about 40% of my workforce. we had a lot of challenges getting ready for election day. early voting went great for us, election day actually turned out to be pretty slow in turnout. all right, good luck getting it all done. thank you. richard baron, director of elections in fulton county, the largest in the state of georgia and we are expecting an update from the secretary of state of georgia about the whole election in the state, because the whole of america is watching what happens and who will be especially the winner of the presidential race here. let's show you some live shots of

account going on right now. this is fulton county in georgia. final ballots being counted in atlanta, georgia. as we inch closer, and it does feel like inching very slowly, doesn't it, towards the final result of the us presidential election. the status of the count layer, i'm looking at the very latest, we are on 96% of votes counted there and it's really, really tight. donald trump, 50%. joe biden, 49%. but they are of course going through a lot of those mail—in ballots right now and it is too close to call it right now, with 4% of the ballot still remaining to be counted. the headlines on bbc news... democratjoe biden inches closer to the white house after winning michigan in the us election —

but still no final result as counting continues in just seven key battle ground states. meanwhile, the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states, and wants a recount in wisconsin. and a month—long lockdown begins today in england, to combat the spread of coronavirus. a new four—week lockdown has begun in england, with people told to stay at home, and nonessential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close. there are strict new rules on mixing with other households too, and the police are warning there will be tough action against anyone who breaks the rules. anna 0'neill reports. it's lights out for blackpool, no more visitors to the famous illuminations for now. the seaside town was already under england's highest tier of restrictions, but now the plug has been pulled on virtually all entertainment. over in hull last night,

people made the most of their last evening of relative freedom. this might be the last chance until christmas. we just had our anniversary. so, it'sjust a reason to come out. to celebrate our anniversary. to be fair, otherwise we probably wouldn't have bothered. and there was also a celebratory atmosphere in london's soho. it kinda feels like new year's eve, it's got that kind of new year's eve, christmas eve atmosphere in the air. it's a bit sad that places close at ten. you know, it's a bit hard because it's like, how are you meant to celebrate, my birthday‘s coming up, like, it is it cancelled? my birthday, yeah. we don't know, do you know what i mean? police could be seen, surrounded by crowds as they encouraged people to go home and stay indoors for their own safety. the chair of the national police chiefs' council warned there would be stiff fines for those breaching the new coronavirus regulations coming into effect today. 0ur officers, and others, will be out there, and if people are not abiding by the rules,

then we'll engage, we'll explain, we will encourage, but if we have to, we will enforce. so, what are the new regulations? pubs and restaurants are now closed but takeaways can stay open. nonessential shops and entertainment venues are also closed. people can't mix with other households in homes or gardens, but meeting one person from another household in a public space is allowed. and you should stay at home, unless you're going to work, education, essentialshopping, exercise, or medical reasons. the latest uk figures recorded a further 492 coronavirus deaths yesterday, the highest daily figure since may and 25,177 confirmed cases. it's hoped these new measures, which will stay in place for at least four weeks, will help to bring the deaths, cases and pressure on the nhs, down. anna 0'neill, bbc news.

0ur political correspondent nick eardley is at westminster. interesting watching those scenes in soho last night. 0bviously interesting watching those scenes in soho last night. obviously the hope is that people will obey those rules and drive the cases of the virus down, but if they don't, what is the enforcement going to be? we've heard from the police, but what is the government saying about making exa m ples of government saying about making examples of people who don't follow the rules? the answer to that is finds. the government has been pretty clear that it once the police to engage with people that might not be following the rules, to explain them over the next few weeks, but ultimately if it comes to it, they will find them. those fines can go up will find them. those fines can go up incrementally so for repeat offenders you're looking at some pretty hefty fines if people consistently flout the rules. ministers don't necessarily want to get to that stage. we heard from the justice secretary robert buckland this morning saying the plan is

still to persuade people to do this in the very much want people to follow the rules voluntarily but ultimately if that's not the case then you're prepared to hand out those fines. let's talk about the economic side of this then and how the government supports people through the lockdown. what are we expecting to your from the uk chancellor in the next couple of hours? especially with regards to the other nations of the uk, not just england? i think around midday we will hear from the chancellor in the commons. it's interesting because we've got quite used to these economic interventions with these economic interventions with the chancellor appearing before mps to update them on his plan. it's a fast moving picture. the government's plans have changed quite rapidly. they were initially saying they were not going to extend the furlough scheme, we now know it has been extended at least until the 2nd of december. i think quite possibly we are going to get a further extension of that with some caveats, the different nations of

the uk, scotland, wales and northern ireland have been pushing for power stem cells to go back into lockdown and get some furlough support. the prime minister has given us a broad outline of a pledge will be available in some way or other to parts of the uk if they go back into lockdown. i assume that is going to be the case for parts of england as well, so we'll be really interesting to see that detail of that from the chancellor. when 80% of your salary will be available and potentially how long it may be available for. it is an expensive scheme and the chancellor wanted to wind it back partly to save money and partly because he was arguing you don't wa nt because he was arguing you don't want people in jobs because he was arguing you don't want people injobs if because he was arguing you don't want people in jobs if those because he was arguing you don't want people injobs if thosejobs are not going to exist in a few weeks or months' time. but it now seems that furlough scheme could continue for a wee while longer and the details of that will be very important. nick, thank you very much.

the bank of england is pumping another £150 billion into the economy to ease the pressure caused by the lockdowns. interest rates have been kept on hold, at a record low of 0.1%. the bank has also warned of more economic contraction this year though it says the uk will avoid what's called a double—dip recession. sainsbury‘s has announced that up to 3,500 jobs could go, after it suffered loss of more than £170 million over the last six months. job losses are likely at sainsbury‘s stores, with the potential closure of delis and fresh fish and meat counters. it comes as more than 2,500 jobs are set to go atjohn lewis and lloyds banking group, which were both announced yesterday. earlier i was joined by our business presenter sima kotecha and i began by asking her why sainsbury is being forced to cut these jobs. supermarkets have kind of been the winner during this pandemic, they have done so well, but they have had to make lots of expenses due to the pandemic, whether it has involved hiring more staff, whether it's

about boosting up their online operations, so there have been costs. now, these job operations, so there have been costs. now, thesejob losses operations, so there have been costs. now, these job losses are expected, mostly from argos. you may recall that in 2016 sainsbury‘s bought argos and i over the next few yea rs bought argos and i over the next few years it is going to be cutting —— it is going to be shutting 400 stores. most of those jobs coming from there, but some are expected to come from sainsbury supermarket itself. as you said, the jellies, fresh fish and meat counters are expected to close down slowly. they have been in decline for a while and supermarkets have placed a lot of their fresh supermarkets have placed a lot of theirfresh produce in the supermarkets have placed a lot of their fresh produce in the aisles of their fresh produce in the aisles of the supermarket, rather than in their own little section. they say that can end up wasting food by having those delicatessens and fresh food counters in place. so that is evolving and changing, but sainsbury‘s has a good track record of redeploying its staff and today we're hearing that some of those

jobs that are actually being cut could end up being redeployed, these people. and whether they actually wa nt people. and whether they actually want these new jobs people. and whether they actually want these newjobs is a different matter. some people may not wish to redeploy to a different section or a different location. and also, anita, financial results show that sainsbury‘s has made a loss of 137 million, so some redundancies are inevitable. as you said, john lewis announced more job cuts inevitable. as you said, john lewis announced morejob cuts on its head office yesterday and announced more than 1000 job losses back injuly. so i'm afraid it's inevitable that some people will probably lose their jobs. sima, it is tough news in a year of tough news and perhaps that goes part of the way to explaining why the bank of england is putting an extra £150 billion into the economy. what does that tells about the bank's expectations of what is going to happen next with the economy and how it hopes this money might help? well, you may have heard

on the radio are on the tv today a town called quantitative easing. the bank is saying that actually means printing money not in a physical sense but it means creating more money. the bank of england is the only institution that actually can create money. and what it is going to do with this money is buy government bonds. if you think of a bond as an investment or an iou, it is lending money to the government so they can spend it on things like the furlough scheme. because all of that needs money to come from somewhere to help people with their finances and interned the hope is that people will inject more money into the economy by getting that cash. it says that as the furlough scheme is wound down in december, unemployment is expected to increase

and another downturn but hopefully not a recession. there was some talk ofa not a recession. there was some talk of a double—dip recession, but it is hoped that that will not happen as the scheme is wound down. let's return to the us elections, and as we've been hearing, with seven key battleground states left to declare, democratjoe biden is inching towards the white house. with me is greg swenson, from the organisation republicans abroad. also i'm joined by inge kjemptrup, chairwoman of democrats abroad uk. good to have you with us on another hugely dramatic day in us politics. are you feeling nervous at the moment or confident? i'm feeling pretty confident about where we are. we think thatjoe biden is on track

to win the election. just remember, we always thought this was going to ta ke we always thought this was going to take time to count because of all the unprecedented mail—in voting. something we know about a lot, as americans who vote overseas. overall, the picture has been very calm and i am super impressed with what the election officials are doing. the person you interviewed earlier, these election officials who hold to it despite all the issues, they have become my hero. we have one in wisconsin, michigan and minnesota and are feeling good about other states. they will take time. time to count now you have got to this point, but obviously the hope had been at the victory would be much more decisive and it simply hasn't been, has it? well, what we have seen is that biden has won a regular —— record popular voting turnout. i vote in california. the

overall election is shaping up to have the highest voter turnout since 1908. we are looking at 67% of eligible voters turning out. so i think we are so kind of looking at where we are as a nation, pulling together all the division that has been furthered by all the inflammatory statements from trump. so the firstjob inflammatory statements from trump. so the first job for inflammatory statements from trump. so the firstjob for biden is going to be healing and bringing together our nation, making sure we understand each other, that we can come together. based on your assumption that you will be in the white house injanuary. greg, do you think there is still a pathway to victory for donald trump? yes, i think there is a pathway, but it is narrow and i would much rather come andl narrow and i would much rather come and i will probably never see this again, but! and i will probably never see this again, but i would rather be in the other shoes in terms of the probability. but it is still a

narrow path. in my view, the president needs to win arizona. they are continuing to count ballots there. it is a long shot, but right now he is winning 62% in the precincts where the votes are still being counted and unlike some of the other states that are counting on the mail—in ballots which obviously favour democrats, these are mostly election day votes. so if the trend continues, i won't bore you with a detailed map, but he needs 58% and he is getting 62%. that could change andl he is getting 62%. that could change and i would not argue otherwise, but he has got a chance. but it is a much better path for vice president biden than it is for donald trump. much better path for vice president biden than it is for donald trumplj spoke to a uk mp earlier who said with authoritarianism around the world going, how america handles this democratic process will be watched by all nations. this sort of

language the trump campaign has been using, the clip from eric trump, are you disappointed by the sort of language they have been using?|j guess language they have been using?” guess it depends who you are watching. eric and donald junior guess it depends who you are watching. eric and donaldjuniorand the president himself tend to get much of the press coverage. the communications don't bring much clarity. i don't think they are constructive. i have been following steve cortez and that's one of the really great victories for the campaign, the hispanic outreach. but i think it's important. ignore the overheated rhetoric and let the state and local officials complete the count, trust the rule of law in each state and if there are irregularities, let's figure it out. but i don't think the heated rhetoric is going to be helpful to anyone. just briefly, do you think

that the legal challenges of the trump campaign —— that the trump campaign are talking about have any merit? of course they do. i go back to the year 2000. when you have a close race like we had in florida in 2000, it's important to have recounts if it's under a certain percentage. if biden wins comfortably in michigan, there is probably no point to it, but if there are irregularities, they should be pointed out. i haven't seen any should be pointed out. i haven't seen any evidence yet but i think with mail—in voting, evenjimmy carter, a global expert on election monitoring, he said in his report that mail—in voting is fraught with opportunities for fraud. not just that but also possible mistakes. we have not been presented with any evidence. i have seen some not verified, but i've seen some

already. in paterson, newjersey, in the summer, the rejection rate was 28%. projecting this, ifjoe biden does win, and greg says he would rather be in your shoes in terms of the probabilities here, if this had been a slam dunk for biden, the republican party may well have gone away and thought about a different sort of candidate for next time around, but ifjoe biden does win, it won't have been a slam dunk, the sort of victory samples had been predicting for a while now, so it does seem that trump has —— trump is very much alive and well in the usa, so how doesjoe biden deliver on the promise to have a united states if he becomes president? after the attempts by trump to

delegitimise the election. was he going to hold to the results and what kind of transition can we get? i want to go back quickly to something greg said about the carter commission. there was a joint study backin commission. there was a joint study back in 2005 and more recently what carter actually said now have substantial experience of vote by mail, states like washington and 0regon mail, states like washington and oregon are all vote by mail. voter fraud, it really is not a thing. overall, what we will have to do is bring together all parts of this country, people across the political spectrum, the democratic party. 0ur nation is in crisis. we have the covic crisis, we have an economy in deep trouble, we have climate change affecting all parts of the state, including california where i am from where half of the state has been on fire at various points this year. there are major issues to deal with. i hope we can start to deal with that but we can bring everyone together so we can collectively

address it in a grown—up, calm way. very briefly, legal challenges notwithstanding, do you think we will know by the end of this week even who is president?” will know by the end of this week even who is president? i don't think so. even who is president? i don't think so. i hope so, but i don't think so. the counting continues. i have been focusing on arizona. i think it will bea focusing on arizona. i think it will be a few days. pennsylvania is allowing ballots to come in until friday the sixth and it might take some time to count those. if vice president biden has a clean sweep and confirms his victory in wisconsin and michigan and then the counting continues and is completed in arizona, if he wins that, i don't think we have to worry about pennsylvania. it could be by this weekend, but i am not very confident. it has been really interesting to talk to both of you. fascinating days ahead and perhaps we will speak again soon. thanks

very much. let's talk about matters that are not political for a while. in the uk, tonight is, of course, bonfire night and in other years, many of us would be enjoying fireworks at an organised display. but they've all been cancelled because of the pandemic so more people may be tempted to plan their own event at home, leading to concerns from safety groups and medics. tim muffet reports. edenbridge in kent, where for almost 100 years each november there has been a bonfire and a parade. the streets here where i'm standing, you cannot move through them. they are sort of from the edge of the kerb, up until the walls, just spectators watching and cheering on the parade as it goes by. this year, it ain't gonna happen, is it? it's not going to happen, no. it's very sad. it's a massive community event. we always support local charities. it could be our local scouts group, it could be some of the amateur dramatics groups that we have here, the brownies. we've got the local museum. so, yeah, all of these local organisations, unfortunately, are not going to be getting any

funds from us. for almost 30 years, as well as guy fawkes, an effigy of a public figure has also been burned. so it's usually a politician or an actor or a singer, someone who is famous and done something bad or naughty, or been in the press for perhaps negative reasons. this year, had it been going ahead, who would you have done? i would have loved to have done a giant covid virus, i think that would have been really fitting. no—one would object to that, i would imagine. with organised firework displays cancelled, it's thought a third of uk households are considering having fireworks at home this year — a trend that had been going away seems to be back with a bang. it's kind of fun and you don't just miss the bonfire. at least it's better than nothing because otherwise we wouldn't be able to do anything at all. we've had neighbours behind us actually set them off regularly

and we have holes in some of our shed roofs from it, so i'm not a huge fan. but there are renewed warnings about the potential danger fireworks pose. nobody wants to hamper fun people are having as a family but this year, more than ever, we really do urge people to think twice because of the fact they are explosives, because of the fact of the inherent danger. in the best of hands it can go wrong and the nhs simply is under immense pressure at the minute. alistair brown is a consultant plastic surgeon at the ulster hospital in belfast. we're quite shocked by what came in over the past week or two. one child had damaged the inner eye, the other nearly lost an eye. if the fireworks had been closer, could have lost her life. blasting to the hands are common, people misusing — lifting them. one child yesterday we operated on has a very significant injury to structure of his hand. i don't like them. what don't you like? bonfire nights.

bonfire night. it's not just physical risks that concern some. joe is 16 and has autism. every single child in the world has had a terrible year. the problem we have got withjoe is thatjoe hates fireworks. obviously this year it's on another level because there are going to be lots and lots of garden parties. there is going to be lots of fireworks going off locally, so we've had to prepare for that. joe will stay in a tent in his house and wear ear defenders. his mum julie totally understands that families simply want to have fun. the same goes for many dog owners, such as callum. but goose and fliss, his border collies, react badly to the bangs. they quiver and shake and they run and jump over everyone. they are scared the whole time. are you worried this year because there are no organised events, there will be more ongoing fireworks in people's gardens? definitely. we have seen it already. they started probably two weeks ago and it's not even bonfire night yet. the british fireworks association has said sales have been

very good this year. they say there has been a surge in demand for traditional selection boxes to be used at home. in 2020, the moments of brightness have been rare. thoe planning to have fun and with fireworks are being urged more than ever to do so safely. tim muffett, bbc news. greece has ordered a nationwide lockdown for three weeks after reportig a surge of covid—19 cases. the prime minister said the new restrictions will come into effect on saturday. he said he'd chosen to take what hecalled drastic‘ measures sooner rather than later. greece has reported fewer cases than most in europe, after an early lockdown in february. the prime minister of sweden, stefan lofven has announced he's self—isolating after a person close to him met with someone who later tested positive for coronavirus. mr lofven said the person,

who he hasn't identified, has tested negative but on medical advicee, he and his wife would self—isolate. in a statement on social media he said "i am distance—working. we feel fine and do not have any symptoms". let's return to the us elections, and as we've been hearing, with seven key battleground states left to declare, democratjoe biden is inching closer towards winning the presidency. with me is ashtyn vickers, a first time voter from atlanta, georgia, who voted for biden. and also i'm joined byjesse fischer, another first time voterfrom phoenix, arizona, who voted for trump. you are both very welcome, thank you for joining you are both very welcome, thank you forjoining us. for both of you, i imaginei forjoining us. for both of you, i imagine i really nail—biting couple of days and nights. your reaction ashton? it has been very nerve—racking. it has been hard to sleep, ijust keep thinking about it, the numbers are really close. now it is getting a bit clearer, but

you never know. as a first-time voter experience, this is quite something, unforgettable? voter experience, this is quite something, unforgettable ?m voter experience, this is quite something, unforgettable? it is quite crazy. just seeing everything go from one side to the next. just sort of giving you butterflies with every refresh on your browser. but yes, it's crazy. why did you vote for donald trump? was it always your feeling you are going to vote for him ordid you feeling you are going to vote for him or did you weigh up your decision? i did a lot of weighing up on my decision. i have a lot of more conservative values, but one of the main reasons why i chose trump is because he is not necessarily a classic conservative candidate, but a lot of the reasons i chose him was because the economy is one of the big parts and the future of the economy is one of the things he kind

of specialises in. he is a businessman, he is not a politician, which changes things quite a lot. when i look at the future of the country in terms ofjobs, industry and just the people in it, there's a lot of things that point towards trump being one of the better candidates to get america back on its feet in that sort of way. and the same question for you, was it a lwa ys the same question for you, was it always going to bejoe biden for you or was there a wider decision making process going on? for me also, i did a lot of research. i always have more liberal views on politics and stuff. i went through my research and with all of the stuff going on with black lives matter and the police brutality that has been going oni police brutality that has been going on i feel like biden has a better plan for how we are going to solve the racism in the country a bit

better than it has been handled in the past. i feel as better than it has been handled in the past. ifeel as well better than it has been handled in the past. i feel as well his take on the past. i feel as well his take on the climate change and he has got a plan, the better green deal he has got going on is important, because there could be life changing, permanent changes to our earth that are irreversible and he has got a plan to get a greener future. i feel like the economy willjust go with that, that's not why i would vote, that, that's not why i would vote, thatis that, that's not why i would vote, that is why i went with biden instead because i think he has more on the human right side in america. just looking at the latest figures in the bbc for arizona, 86% of the vote counted. so far, 50% forjoe biden and 48% to donald trump. i am interested to get your take on what has been said by the trump campaign in terms of voters being disenfranchised and votes being

stolen, do you feel disenfranchised, do you feel something has been stolen from you? not quite yet, we have arizona and pennsylvania has a lot of votes to be counted. there is a few things that are going on here. just in arizona alone, there are a lot of ballots not being able to be counted because the polling places gave them sharpie pens which do not work on the machines all of the time. what is your evidence for that, where are you hearing that from? my friend used a sharpie pen at his polling place two days ago and the two people in front of him who also use them, their registration, sorry their ballots, when they went in said it had an error. sorry, go ahead and finish the point. you know, it is something a little bit scary and we have seen

that throughout the state. i have seen that throughout the state. i have seen various videos of people talking about how they didn't want to use the sharpie pen but were told it is the only thing they could be used. do you think it is right, and the leader of the free world should be saying that votes have been cast should not be counted. does that give you any second thoughts about the fact you voted for donald trump? he is not saying vote shouldn't be counted, but we need to stop counting votes in order to get a better grip on the situation. a lot of these votes that are coming in are coming in afterwards. problems with the mail—in service that is causing problems and we don't know when these mail—in ballots came in. it is important because in pennsylvania, any of these ballots that come after november the 3rd need to be put in a separate file,

so need to be put in a separate file, so to speak. the supreme court has been involved in the decision about the votes that are counted and i wa nt to the votes that are counted and i want to get back to ashton. what are your thoughts on everything that the trump campaign has been saying about the counting of votes?” trump campaign has been saying about the counting of votes? i understand why they are making these claims about stopping counting, but i feel they need to be patient and wait for everything to come in if they feel it is close enough to call a recount at that point. the trump administration were trying to recount in wisconsin, i am not 100% sure on that. it is too close to call and they are trying to say a lot of things in 2016 with hillary and trump and red states are turning blue and it is not making sense so they want to do recall. you need to wait a little bit longer in order to

make that assumption things might be fraudulent. we are almost out of time, but! fraudulent. we are almost out of time, but i want a brief answer, the biden campaign says it thinks it is going to win, it is confident it is going to win, it is confident it is going to win, it is confident it is going to take the white house and has talked about governing, not for the red states of the blue states, but for the united states. given the divide we have seen in the us, the polarisation, would you both, obviously you would, get behind a biden presidency and work toward something for the good of all. yes, i100% would be behind it. i den's campaign is for change, trying to better america and so it has a better america and so it has a better future. i feel like he better america and so it has a betterfuture. ifeel like he is the best person that is able to consider everyone's best interest, whether they are republican, democrat or

pushed aside and try to come together as a united nation because we have been pretty divided these past few years. if joe biden does when would you be prepared to give him a chance and listen to what he has to say and get behind any efforts ? has to say and get behind any efforts? he is talking about getting the nation back together again?m course, the president of the united states is the president of the united states. it is our duty as citizens to back him. while he may not be my favourite candidate, you have to give and support the winner of the race in a fair way. 0k, a lwa ys of the race in a fair way. 0k, always good to end with that sort of quote. thank you both forjoining us. the headlines on bbc news... democratjoe biden inches closer to the white house after winning michigan in the us

election, but still no final result as counting continues in just seven key battle ground states. meanwhile the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states and wants a recount in wisconsin. and a month—long lockdown begins today in england, to combat the spread of coronavirus. let's return to the new four—week lockdown that's begun this morning in england. people have been told to stay at home, and nonessential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close. there are strict new rules on mixing with other households too, and the police are warning there will be tough action against anyone who breaks the rules. dan johnson reports. 0nce once again, we live under further constraints. here we go, here we business with, what fun we have. the bra kes business with, what fun we have. the brakes have just been applied and we must all now adjust to another new

set of rules. the lockdown didn't work before, so i don't understand what is going to change this time round. it affects even lives that haven't started yet. in wakefield, dee is due to give birth next week. lam trying dee is due to give birth next week. i am trying not to think too much about it. if i have got to do it on my own, i have to do it i am. it has got to come out. i live in a cul—de—sac and out of about 40 houses there is six houses with it now. it seems nearer and scarier this time. and grand parents like jane will feel the impact, too.” don't know when i will see them again now, so we don't know when i will see them again now, so we came don't know when i will see them again now, so we came down to make the most of it. how are you feeling about it? a bit emotional, ijust wa nt about it? a bit emotional, ijust want it over for christmas. i cannot stand it like it was last time. soft play has to close, like so much else. a week ago they were told originally they would be go into tier 3. it wasn't until saturday

night we heard it would no longer apply. we had a decision to make and we cancelled all our bookings. it is just changing so fast, it is literally from one hour to the next. and time is running out for shopping. look how busy it was in huddersfield yesterday before they close for the next month. it is bound to hurt town centres that have already suffered and being trapped m, already suffered and being trapped in, cut off is another worry. he has made christmas presents, they are amazing. we met roy, living with blindness, out and about with his carer, claire. this is a lifeline for him, getting out and he comes to the bank. we usually go for something to eat together. but we can't after today. this is the last chance to do something like that. can't after today. this is the last chance to do something like thatm is not good for the disabled if you cannot get out. at the care home workers like bev, the risks to older people, social and medical, are all too real. i have just

people, social and medical, are all too real. i havejust done people, social and medical, are all too real. i have just done 212 people, social and medical, are all too real. i havejust done 212 hour shifts and i am absolutely shattered. but we have a test every time we go to work. what is alike in the care homes? i hope it is not going to be like before because it was absolutely manic. here is a yorkshire institution that has seen many dramas. the original will pack only reopened under new management last friday and they face pouring all the beer away before a late change to allow off—licence takeaway sales. i cannot stress how important whoever turned that rule was, not just for me but every licensee in this country. i believe it could have finished off 30% of the pubs. here is to the 2nd of december, i guess. danjohnson, guess. dan johnson, bbc news, guess. danjohnson, bbc news, west yorkshire. there's been criticism of the use of a uk government graph projecting 4000 deaths a day. yesterday former prime minister theresa may criticised the data that the prime minister used at the weekend of the worst case scenario of possible deaths from coronavirus.

lets have a listen to what she said. there were other examples where figures have been used in a way i think has been unhelpful to parliament and the public. let me ta ke parliament and the public. let me take the 4000 figure. it appears the decision to go towards this lockdown was partly, mainly, to some extent based on the prediction of 4000 deaths a day. but if you look at the trajectory shown in the graph that went to 4000 deaths a day, have reached 1000 deaths a day by the end of october. the average in the last week of october was 259 by my calculation. each of those deaths is a sadness and our thoughts are with the families, but it is not 1000 deaths a day, so the prediction was wrong before it was even used. professor sir david spiegelhalter from the centre for mathematical sciences at the university of cambridge joins us now.

i note that you are disappointed, if thatis i note that you are disappointed, if that is the right word, to express your feelings at the particular data that the government has used to project potentially 4000 deaths a day from coronavirus. explain why you are feeling that way?” com pletely you are feeling that way?” completely agree with everything theresa may said. as a statistician who values these data, this saga has been unfortunate. it doesn't appear to have come from any formal sage document that had been produced beforehand. secondly, somebody lea ked beforehand. secondly, somebody leaked it to the media last friday so it was all on the bbc website before the press conference. and as theresa may pointed out, it was out of date even by last saturday. these are analysis done by the end of 0ctober are analysis done by the end of october and the 4000 a day one, that very tea m october and the 4000 a day one, that very team had produced new predictions or projections which we re predictions or projections which were substantially lower. i was really shocked that in spite of all

this criticism it then appeared again in the briefing papers that went before the parliamentary debate yesterday. i am not surprised that theresa may had a good go at it. what are you saying? are you saying this was an attempt at political justification for the lockdown measure that england is entering today? i am not saying why it appeared, but what i absolutely want to seriously emphasise is, i don't think they had to do that anyway. the data itself that is being reported at the time and now every day, i think it's completely sufficient to justify some radical action. i am sufficient to justify some radical action. iam not sufficient to justify some radical action. i am not saying lockdown, because any decision made about lockdown is not just because any decision made about lockdown is notjust a matter of projecting covid figures, we have to think in much bigger terms, in terms of the economy, subsequent harms of the lockdown and that is a much harder decision, not to be madejust on the basis of these figures, that isa on the basis of these figures, that is a political decision. but if we

are going to look at those figures, not only the fat, 20, to 25,000 cases a day are being reported. whatever we do, whatever we do now we will get to 2500 new hospitalisations a day over the next couple of weeks and then 500 deaths a day after that. there is nothing we can do about it now, the die has been cast by the cases bob you think 500 deaths a day from the data you are examining? three to four weeks, it is unavoidable. that level in itself is lower than we had at the peak in the early stage. sorry to interrupt, we are virtually there, 492 deaths reported yesterday, the biggest figure since may. you should look at reported deaths, two days before that we had 130 being reported. you have to look at the day the death occurred and smooth over the trajectory. but we will get

to that number. it is a high number but if it was a peak, it is not so bad. but at the moment the number of cases a day are broadly stable and we cannot stay at that level for the foreseeable winter. i apologise, we are out of time. you are watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carole. hello again. still some dense fog patches to watch out for and some of this will lift in the next couple of hours, but some of it can stick, and if it does so, then that will suppress the temperatures. high pressure is in charge. you can see there are no isobars in the centre of this, so no wind to move that along. however, the isobars are close together across the far north of scotland and the northern isles, so you've got gusty winds today. when the fog does lift, and it should for most of us, we will see a return to some brighter skies across parts of england and also wales. but there is going to be quite a bit of cloud coming in on the wind from the atlantic. however, as it bumps

into the grampians, it should disperse and we will see some sunshine across northern scotland sunshine across north—east scotland with temperatures responding and getting up to about 15 degrees. generally we are looking at about 9—12 degrees. through this evening and overnight, we will see another cold night in prospect, particularly across the south. with once again some mist and fog patches forming. these temperatures are of towns and cities. in rural areas, they will be lower. the mist and fog tomorrow should lift more readily across the south. because there will be more in the way of breeze as we return to some sunnier skies. for northern ireland, northern england and scotland, at times there will be quite a bit of cloud around, but we will see some brightness and some showers coming in across the outer hebrides. temperatures, 11 to about 13 degrees. but it is going to turn milder towards the weekend as the wind changes to have more a southerly component. you can see the blue has been pushed

away by the milder yellow and amber. so first thing on saturday we could see some mist and fog for example across the vale of york, south—east scotland, which would be slow to clear. but there will be a lot of dry weather around, fair bit of sunshine and later in the day cloud will come in across the south—west, the wind will pick up and we will see the arrival of some rain. temperatures also picking up. 15 degrees is what we can expect across the south on saturday. on sunday, that band of cloud and rain will continue to migrate steadily northwards. the timing of this could change, as could the positioning. we think at the moment most of the rain will be in the west, we will see some getting into eastern areas but behind it it should brighten up and our temperature range, nine to 16 in london.

this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11am... the result of the us presidential election remains in the balance as counting continues in a handful of battle ground states. democratjoe biden is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. meanwhile, the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states, and wants a recount in wisconsin. trump supporters, some of them heavily armed, gathered outside centres where the votes are still being counted in arizona and detroit. a month—long lockdown begins today in england, to combat the spread of coronavirus.

more plans to boost the economy — an extra £150 billion is available to help with the pandemic. and the chancellor will give details later of extending the furlough scheme. supermarket sainsbury‘s announces it is cutting 3,500 jobs in the uk. the result of the us election remains in the balance, as votes continue to be counted in key battleground states. joe biden is inching closer to victory after claiming michigan overnight, with reports suggesting he will take more key states today. but the trump campaign is taking legal action in several areas, calling for counts to be stopped. so far, 43 of the 50 states have

declared their results, with the democratic candidate joe biden on 243 electoral college votes, and the republican donald trump on 214. the number needed to win overall, and to occupy the white house, is 270. georgia is an important battleground state where the president's lead overjoe biden continues to narrow. with 95% of the vote counted, donald trump holds 49.6% of the vote, butjoe biden with 49.1% isn't far behind. arizona is another one of those states. with 86% of the vote counted, joe biden is ahead there with 50.5% of the vote. 0ur north america correspondent, ben wright, reports. there are still millions of votes to count, and this presidential race is not decided. in georgia, donald trump kept the narrowest of leads over joe biden as ballots were tallied late in the night. it was a scene repeated in the handful of states that

will now decide this election. at the moment, it isjoe biden sounding confident. he currently has more electoral college votes than his rival and chalked up vital wins in the midwest, michigan, a democratic gain, and wisconsin looks to have gone the same way. here, the people rule. power can't be taken or asserted. it flows from the people. it is their will that determines who will be the president of the united states, and their will alone. in nevada, the two candidates are neck and neck, and the state will release more results on thursday. in arizona, once a republican stronghold, joe biden stayed slightly ahead while election officials counted the remaining postal ballots. after president trump prematurely declared victory and erroneously claimed in a tweet to have won states he hadn't, republicans filed a string of lawsuits and complaints. we're going to win pennsylvania, but they're going to try and cheat us out of it, because they know

it's their only path to victory. they know it's the only path to victory. we came here today and met with all our lawyers, and we are going to file a suit in pennsylvania. after an attempt by the trump campaign to stop the count in michigan, the state's chief election officer called the lawsuit meritless. we're focused on getting this right in a way that can withstand any court challenges. i'll also mention we've seen this not just in michigan but in other states. a lot of times, court challenges or allegations are thrown around to further political agendas, as opposed to actual legal claims. we could still be waiting a while to discover who the next president will be, as an unprecedented volume of postal votes are counted. but it's the current occupant of the white house who is trying to catch up. mail—in ballots are still being counted in the state of georgia. 0ur correspondent, larry madowo, spoke to an election official who described the process in fulton county.

right now, they get a tray of ballots, they will put it through the opener extractors, and then once they get them out at the envelopes, they get them out at the envelopes, they will go to these people who are flattening them and are preparing them for the scanners in the back. 0nce them for the scanners in the back. once they go through the scanners, we ta ke once they go through the scanners, we take them over to our warehouse, there is a vote review panel over there is a vote review panel over the and that vote review panel will look at any of the ballots that have been flagged by the software for voter intent —— where voter intent is in question. what they will do is determine how the voter, what the voter's intent was. they wanted to voter's intent was. they wanted to vote for that candidate or that candidate. so all of these candidates that are being counted here, when will they be ready? 7pm. is it possible to add any ballots after that to this group? at 7pm on election night, if we didn't receive anything in the mail by 7pm on election night, anything received after that is rejected. so you

started at hundred of these. hundred and 42,000 approximately. so you are down to the last 14,000 or so? yes. what is the average progress per hour? we have been doing about 3500 per hour the last couple of hours. that has accelerated as the day has gone by. hopefully we will be able to push on and get done with this bike six m or 7am. president trump's team has launched a legal challenge because they claim that some part of this state, that some ballots were introduced after that time. did any of that happen in this county? we had teams in all 38 drop boxes and who locks them at 7pm. anything that was... we only received ballots until 7pm through the mail. anything received after that we were put in the reject pile. when you are

planning this and what has been more surprising for you now that it is actually happening? we had 25 covert infections in our warehouse which pretty much devastated 40% of my workforce. —— covid—19 infections. early voting went great for us, election day actually turned out to be pretty slow in turnout. good luck getting it all done. thank you. the director of counselling in this cou nty director of counselling in this county in georgia. —— the director of counting in this county in georgia. we know the presidential race here... let's speak now to mark landler, london bureau chief for the new york times and former white house correspondent. thanks very much forjoining us. i imagine you are watching this play out in the united states with a

certain amount of envy that you are here rather than there? yeah, i mean, there has been a lot of news in britain over the last year, needless to say. it has been exciting to be here. this is a week where any white house correspondent would love to be back there, because there is literally a drama playing out in about four different states thatis out in about four different states that is really quite unprecedented. what in particular has stood out for you in this election? well, a couple of things. a couple of things that will have to be explored very carefully in the aftermath of the vote counting. 0ne carefully in the aftermath of the vote counting. one is why did joe biden perform so much worse than expected with latino voters in florida? that was a state i thought he had a good shot at winning. and then also how big a revolt was there amongst suburban voters? that is the kind of voter that allowed him to win michigan and wisconsin and is putting him within striking distance of pennsylvania. so in terms of the

bigger lessons of what happened in this election, both good and bad for trump and biden, the latino vote is something the democrats need to worry about. the suburban vote is something that republicans really need to worry about. how much difference have young voters made at this time? because the turnout has been really very high. the highest in about 120 years, i think. yeah, andi in about 120 years, i think. yeah, and i think it did make a substantial difference. in some places, it wasn't enough to close the gap. the state where it would have been very interesting to see and it will be interesting to see a breakdown after the fact is texas. there, you have enormous turnout. and i think much of that was younger voters who had not voted before. and i think that is whyjoe biden kept the margin so close in texas. yes, i think young voters have changed the nature of the electorate. that is a trend that will continue. and that will make it harder, frankly, for republicans to win a presidential election is going forward. you

mentioned the latino vote, what about the black vote? there has been so much talk during the last four yea rs so much talk during the last four years about racism in the united states. well, this is an interesting area as well because it looks like president trump may have very marginally improved his performance with african—american voters, which is not what you would expect, given all of the anger over the black lives matter movement and racism over the last year. i think there is also the question of turnout. the reason hillary clinton lost close states like michigan in 2016 is because african americans did not turn out at the levels that they turned out for barack 0bama. it looks like joe biden turned out for barack 0bama. it looks likejoe biden has reversed that trend somewhat. he may not hit 0bama numbers, but it looks like african—americans 0bama numbers, but it looks like african—america ns have turned 0bama numbers, but it looks like african—americans have turned out in slightly larger numbers for biden, and that is possibly why in a state like pennsylvania where a lot of the

outstanding vote is in heavily african—american areas, that is why he is still in play in pennsylvania, despite the fact that donald trump claims to have a lead there. we caught them postal votes, you called them male in votes in the us, how much of a factor have they been, given that many more people chose to cast their ballots that way because of the coronavirus? i think they have been a huge factor, and it has changed the nature of how presidential elections unfold in the united states. i mean, this notion that here we are close to 48 hours later and we don't know the ultimate outcome is largely a function of mailing or postal ballots, as you say. it has also changed the kind of dramatic art of the story, if you will. certain states thatjoe biden will. certain states thatjoe biden will end up winning it looked like they were solidly donald trump states. and that was almost com pletely states. and that was almost completely because of the nature of mail—in ballots, who they tend to favour and when they are counted.

likewise, there are other states where joe likewise, there are other states wherejoe biden likewise, there are other states where joe biden looked likewise, there are other states wherejoe biden looked like he was going to win them. and he may not. a good example of that is arizona, a state that has even been called by several news outlets. that is a state where donald trump is gaining ground on joe state where donald trump is gaining ground onjoe biden, and it is not altogether clear thatjoe biden will hold on to arizona when all of those votes are counted. how far do you think each of the candidates will push this, legally, if it comes down to the wire? well, i think you can see that the trump campaign is already going to push it in a number of places in pennsylvania, where they want accounting to in arizona where their supporters are out there rallying for the counting to continue. but that i think goes to the problem that the trump campaign is going to face here. there have been relatively few, if any reports of major voting irregularities, loss of major voting irregularities, loss of balance, fraud, spoiled ballots. for all of the massive volume of

mail—in ballots, it sounds like this election has been relatively well conducted. and i think that is going to make it tough for the trump campaign. if doesn't mean they won't try, there is already evidence in pennsylvania that they are going to file lawsuits. there may be recounts in other states requested by the biden campaign. i can imagine a recount in georgia where the margin is very narrow where trump holds on. but i do think that, honestly, i am a little less worried about that then i was a 48 hours ago. mark from then i was a 48 hours ago. mark from the new york times, thank you very much for talking to us. you may be seeing on other websites that some states have already been chalked up against one of the candidates or another. notably wisconsin, which has 11, sorry ten electoral college votes. some news sites are calling that forjoe biden. this year, the

bbc is getting its data via reuters from a polling firm called edison research. they do fieldwork and exit polls and they work with the us networks and what is called the national election pool. we here at the bbc still consider the call for wisconsin to be too early to project. 99% of votes in wisconsin have been counted where the candidates are neck and neck. in arizona, that other important state, 85% of votes have been counted. joe biden dealing with 51% of the vote, donald trump on 48%, as we were saying a little bit earlier. we are going for accuracy rather than speed. so the watchword is very much patients, and we will bring you the results when they are definitive. the watchword is very much being patient. let's take a look at how some of the other key states are doing. in pennsylvania, with 89% of the vote counted, president donald trump is slightly ahead of his rival joe biden with 50.7%.

a joe biden is in the lead in nevada, another key state — he's got 49.3% of the vote there so far. we're expecting a result from wisconsin soon — 99% of the vote has been counted, with democratic candidatejoe biden looking on track to win the state. a new four—week lockdown has begun in england, with people told to stay at home, and nonessential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close. there are strict new rules on mixing with other households too, and the police are warning there will be tough action against anyone who breaks the rules. anna o'neill reports. it's lights out for blackpool, no more visitors to the famous illuminations for now. the seaside town was already under england's highest tier of restrictions, but now the plug has been pulled on virtually all entertainment. over in hull last night, people made the most of their last evening of relative freedom. this might be the last chance until christmas. we just had our anniversary. so, it'sjust a reason to come out.

to celebrate our anniversary. to be fair, otherwise we probably wouldn't have bothered. and there was also a celebratory atmosphere in london's soho. it kinda feels like new year's eve, it's got that kind of new year's eve, christmas eve atmosphere in the air. it's a bit sad that places close at ten. you know, it's a bit hard because it's like, how are you meant to celebrate? my birthday‘s coming up, like, it is it cancelled? my birthday, yeah. we don't know, do you know what i mean? police could be seen, surrounded by crowds as they encouraged people to go home and stay indoors for their own safety. the chair of the national police chiefs' council warned there would be stiff fines for those breaching the new coronavirus regulations coming into effect today. 0ur officers, and others, will be out there, and if people are not abiding by the rules, then we'll engage, we'll explain, we will encourage, but if we have to, we will enforce. so, what are the new regulations? pubs and restaurants are now closed,

but takeaways can stay open. nonessential shops and entertainment venues are also closed. people can't mix with other households in homes or gardens, but meeting one person from another household in a public space is allowed. and you should stay at home, unless you're going to work, education, essentialshopping, exercise, or medical reasons. the latest uk figures recorded a further 492 coronavirus deaths yesterday, the highest daily figure since may, and 25,177 confirmed cases. it's hoped these new measures, which will stay in place for at least four weeks, will help to bring the deaths, cases and pressure on the nhs down. anna o'neill, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is at westminster.

expect it is interesting because we have had quite a few of these updates in the past few weeks from the chancellor about the economic packages that he is putting in place to try and supportjobs in businesses during the new shutdown. remember that the furlough scheme was supposed to end at the start of this month, it is now going to go on until at least the 2nd of december. i think we will hear the chancellor outlined some situations in which it could continue even beyond that point. we know that the different parts of the uk, scotland, wales and northern ireland who don't have a treasury of their own are asking the treasury at westminster to fund any further lockdowns that may have to have. we have had part of the north of england a say in the last few weeks as well that if some of the more severe restrictions are brought in on hospitality and things like that, then the full furlough, 80% of people pay who people who can't work should be in place, i think we will get details of the chancellor about what his plan is on that. it will be

really interesting to see if it is a full commitment again. because that would be quite a change for what the government was saying just six weeks ago when it was trying to get rid of the furlough scheme, moved to the job support scheme, which we see a combination of the government and employees helping to top up the wages of people who were working part—time. it has been a really uncertain economic picture for the last few weeks, things have changed. but just as the last few weeks, things have changed. butjust as the government had to change its mind on a full national lockdown for england, i think it would have to change its mind again on the economic support that it is offering. for the moment, thank you very much. let's get more on the impact on the nhs with this second national lockdown. dr helgijohannsson is a consultant anaesthetist from the royal college of anaesthetists in london. thank you very much forjoining us. how differently prepared is the nhs for this lockdown? i think, from a

personal level, i am for this lockdown? i think, from a personal level, iam not looking forward to the knock—down. i suspect along with the rest of the population, the idea of it is sad. personally, i'm very grateful that we are doing it because we are beginning to see the numbers going up. in terms of our preparation, our preparation is much better this time. we have learnt a lot from what we did last time. and i think the chief difference this time is that we are trying our level best to run as much routine work as possible. routine work isn't really routine, and if it doesn't get done, then patiently or get harmed. so it is really, really important that we are able to run normal service as well as the emergency service and looking after covid—19 infected patients. 0ne after covid—19 infected patients. one of the issues the first time was the lack of pp, personal protective equipment. how height of the stocks are they of that this time? it

certainly feels part of what we do ona certainly feels part of what we do on a day—to—day basis. everywhere that i work, the ppe supply has been absolutely fine. i can't obviously speakfor the absolutely fine. i can't obviously speak for the whole country, but it has become ingrained in what we do, andi has become ingrained in what we do, and i think we have learnt very well how to use it and what we have to use for which particular procedures. how wide is the variation with how well so—called routine surgery taking place still, even under these conditions? it varies across the country, and i note that up in the north—west, the hospitals have been really struggling. and it is important that we remember that we haven't got a spare supply of staff to look after covid—19 infected patients. these staff have to come from somewhere else if we are having to expand our covid service. and

thatis to expand our covid service. and that is taken from that routine operating such as us anaesthetist, for instance. last time around we stopped routine operating, a lot of those including me, ended up on the intensive care units looking after the covid—19 patients when we would normally be doing more routine operations such as cancer surgery and various other forms of general surgery. and various other forms of general surgery. and the importance of this time is to keep that going while we look after these patients.“ time is to keep that going while we look after these patients. if there are regional variations in carrying out that surgery, then the backlog ina out that surgery, then the backlog in a different places must vary too. i would have thought so. i haven't seen i would have thought so. i haven't seen figures for the backlogs in particular places, but i suspect they will vary by region. if a hospital has to suspend its routine service, and they are going to have a bigger backlog than somewhere else that has been able to keep it going. but the backlog nationwide is

enormous, and we are also seeing, certainly and personally in my experience, we are seeing a lot of our cancer patients, a big reduction in cancer patients. it is not because they are not getting cancers, the cancers are still there in the community, and those patients are either too frightened to come forward or are waiting for routine investigations of their cancer to be diagnosed. iam investigations of their cancer to be diagnosed. i am actually really worried about this, and i want to say to the public that if you have symptoms, please go and see a doctor. it is really important. finally, how important is it for the public and also nhs staff to know that there will be an end in sight to the lockdown? certainly speaking ona to the lockdown? certainly speaking on a personal level, psychologically, i think it is really important. we did a lockdown

in march and april, and for me, i'm a very sociable person and i find it psychologically quite hard. and i find of another lockdown, especially in november which is a much darker month, also psychologically hard. and the idea that it is a four—week lockdown is helpful to me. and i suspect helpful to the whole population. it is much easier to do something for a limited period of time than stretching out. thank you very much forjoining us. we've just had the latest figures from the government's test and trace programme. i'm joined now by our head of statistics robert cuffe to take us through the figures. first, robert, testing at the time it takes to get those results back, how is that fairing? we have seen slight improvements this week. just over a quarter of tests that were conducted in the presence of a walk—in or drive—through site came back within 24 our is. it was just

under a quarter last week. that is higher than the low point, so it is moving in the right direction. but it was closer to 90, five 19% in june. it is not that they are coming through as quick as many people are asking that they should. —— 90% in june. a lot of people are getting the results the next day, and that is also moving in the right direction. last week, it is commonly just under half coming back the day after you took your test. and this week it is just over 60%. there is signs that some of the extra capacity that was added into the testing system in the week up to the end of october is starting to play through in the figures. but still not evidence that it is reaching the very high levels that we were at in the summer when the demand on the system was much, much lower. in terms of the number of contacts who are being traced and identified, what do those figures show? again,

the number of contacts who are going into the system has gone up a lot. maybe a month ago, there were just under 100,000 contacts needed to be traced. and now it is over 300,000. so the number of people being chased has changed a lot. but the performance of the system hasn't really changed. and that is what has been coming under criticism. the test and trace system, we were hearing a few weeks ago that it was having a marginal impact on transmission. for that to change, the performance needs to improve radically. they are still reaching around tween four and five of the people who have coronavirus and asking for their contacts. and if the art giving the name of somebody to follow up, they reach everyone if it is an outbreak, and they only reach about 60% of people, of the contacts reach about 60% of people, of the co nta cts of reach about 60% of people, of the contacts of people tested in the community. and that 60% figure has

been pretty steady over a very long time. part of the reason for that is they are not given the contact details of their contacts, and part of the reason is they are not reaching them. it is hard to see where the big improvements are coming from in test and trace. if it will have a bigger impact on transmission over the course of the next few weeks. robert, for the moment, thank you very much. robert our head of statistics. the bank of england is pumping another £150 billion into the economy to ease the pressure caused by the lockdowns. interest rates have been kept on hold, at a record low of 0.1%. the bank has also warned of more economic contraction this year though it says the uk will avoid what's called a ‘double dip' recession. the uk supermarket chain sainsbury‘s has announced that up to 3,500 jobs could go, after it suffered loss of more than £170 million over the last six months. job losses are likely at sainsbury‘s stores, with the potential closure of delis and fresh fish and meat counters. it comes as more than 2,500 jobs are set to go atjohn lewis

and lloyds banking group, which were both announced yesterday. let's get more on the economic impact of a the second national lockdown in england. with me now to discuss this is our business reporter, sima kotecha. hi. ithink hi. i think some will see what this new lockdown looks like. and it looks like what we saw in april, lots of shops have closed, fewer people out and about because they can't go into these shops. what does that mean for businesses? that means less revenue, because there is, as i said, fewer people going in to buy things. they might make some headway from online sales, but some businesses are very worried that that won't be the case. one business that won't be the case. one business thatis that won't be the case. one business that is particularly worried and joins me now is the managing director nora tennyson mbe of

jojomamanbebe. how are you feeling and the impact it might have on your business? obviously our teams at jojo are really despondent by this latest lockdown. since july when we reopened, we have been trading our stores, albeit well down on a like—for—like basis compare to last year, but nonetheless, we have been that as part of our communities to offer support and advice to pregnant women and new parents. and we find that our teams are really depressed because they know our customers want us because they know our customers want us to stay open, we want to stay open, they don't want to go home, they don't want to be a burden on they don't want to be a burden on the taxpayer. we don't want to take the taxpayer. we don't want to take the furloughed scheme. we want to continue trading and offering that service to our local community residents. our stores are where our

customers live, so it is not a matter of having to drive out to them, it is on their walk to the park, we specifically chose those locations to be amongst communities of young families. sol locations to be amongst communities of young families. so i think this is, you know, ourteams are despondent. it is a real shame. what would you say to the argument that the government is making that this is about everybody‘s health. this is about not putting people at danger of catching coronavirus?” absolutely agree that we have to do everything sensible to stop the march of the pandemic and in the first lockdown, we closed our stores, we did everything we could, but nowadays, we know a lot more about this disease. we do know that it is not as dangerous for certain members of society. we do know that if you are managing your store carefully, we only have one or two

customers in a serrated time, we are obviously not going to have our christmas shopping events or anything that would drive large numbers to the store. think about it from a support level, there is a new pa re nt from a support level, there is a new parent and pregnant women who have now been through, in some cases, the entire pregnancy without anyone supporting them, even the health visitors are doing zuma calls. i do not know any parents out there that remember what it was like the first time you had a baby, how much advice and information you want to gather, you want human support. our stores are places to go for that support, we can do it over the phone, but every time we close our store it put massive pressure on our delivery service, warehouse, customer service team and it is very difficult to get through on the phone when we close our store, whereas we are in effect that community place to go for pregnancy and new baby advice. your first shoes for your baby, you won't have them properly fitted etc. those

things cannot be done online for dot net you want to have them public fitted. since we reopen, we have not had a single case of covid—19 in our stores. we have kept them safe and asa stores. we have kept them safe and as a result, i do think that when off—licences and chocolate shops can stay open, surely specialist mother and baby stores that should be included in that essential retail. 0k, included in that essential retail. ok, thanks laura. making your case there are very strongly and obviously feeling very passionately about how these stores are essential for new mums and some people will be thinking are the essential? are they area thinking are the essential? are they are a necessity? as i said, you made that argument very well. as i was saying, lots of businesses in a similar position and we had the prime minister tell the cbi yesterday that these restrictions will only stay in place until the 2nd of december. but from people i have been speaking to, there is concern whether that will remain the

case and obviously all eyes will be on the chancellor this morning to see what he is going to announce about the state of our economy and how he is going to act going forward. yes. just after 12 o'clock we will expect to hear from rishi sunak. thank you very much. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downes. good morning. how footballing fortunes can change. a week after manchester united thrashed rb leipzig 5—0, they were humbled in istanbul last night and it started by gifting their opponents a bizarre opening goal. according to united's manager, his players forgot about the istanbul striker demba ba in the bright orange shirt, during this corner, and the former newcastle player has a free run on goal. it ended 2—1 to the turkish champions istanbul basaksehir. like watching under 10's football, according to former united star paul scholes. the defeat‘s another blow for manager 0le gunnar solskjaer,

with united also struggling in the premier league. it's early on. and opinions are out there all the time. you've got to stay strong. i'm employed by the club to do a job and i do that to the best of my ability with our staff. the controversy of penalties being awarded for unintentional handballs was the talking point at chelsea. the french side rennes, will feel hard done by. the referee looked at the var monitor and awarded chelsea a penalty here for handball, he also showed the rennes defender dalbert a red card. timo werner scored the spot kick on the way to a 3—0 win for chelsea, which keeps them top of group e. however, midfielder kai havertz missed the game after testing positive for coronavirus before kick off. in the women's champions league, last season's quarter finalists, glasgow city, are just about still standing, after the first qualifying round, but they were taken all the way to penalties by the irish

champions, peamount united, who missed this kick to lose the shoot—out 6—5, following a goalless draw. elsewhere swansea were beaten 3—0 in cyprus, and linfield lost 8—0 to anderlecht. the europa league returns this evening with celtic, rangers, arsenal, leicester and tottenham all in action. ahead of spurs trip to bulgaria to play ludogorets their manager jose mourinho has been defending striker harry kane. there have been some suggestions that kane dived to win a penalty against brighton in the premier league last weekend, but mourinho has refuted that. there is no more story. what are they speaking about us? speak about liverpool, man city, man united, speak about these penalties that you seek the clever guy who blows and then they're on the floor. do not speak about harry kane. when i say may gym has to be ready to compete,

iam not may gym has to be ready to compete, i am not speaking about that. british cyclist ian stannard has been forced to retire from professional racing due to rheumatoid arthritis. stannard has been with the ineos grenadiers team since its launch in 2010. he's a former national champion and ends his racing career with seven wins, including two at the tour of britain. he was also a key member of five grand tour winning line—ups. britain's hugh carthy remains in the hunt to win cycling's final grand tour race of the season, the vuelta a espana, with four stages remaining. yesterday's stage was won by belgium's tim wellens. but carthy in the pinkjersey here finished alongside his rivals and remains just 47 seconds behind overall leader primoz roglic. the race ends on sunday in madrid. two of england's cricket stars are up against each other in the women's t20 challenge in the uae. danni wyatt's velocity are up against sophie ecclestone's trailblazers in what is the women's version of the ipl. ecclestone proved why she's

the world's number one t20 bowler taking four wickets to limit velocity to just 47 runs from their 20 overs. trailblazers are 12—1 in reply. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website including news of gareth bale's return to the wales squad for 3 games in november — that's after his knee injury that kept him out. that is on our website, more from me later on in the afternoon, see you then. so, as we've been reporting, a new four—week lockdown has begun in england. but there are differences, some of them considerable, to the original lockdown that was announced back in march. 0ur reality check correspondent chris morris is here. some quite significant differences for people. difficult to remember what they all are. first, how about children? how they affected?” what they all are. first, how about children? how they affected? i guess the biggest thing that everyone

knows about is that the schools are open, so you remember back in march, april, millions of people across the country where suddenly home—schooling their kids. schools, universities and nurseries are all open. that is a big difference, but there are other things affecting children that are different and the idea is i think to make things slightly easier to deal with. for example, two people can go out and meet in an open public place, park, beach, woodland, and exercise together, but that does not include in that number of two children under school age, so children under five. so for example two mums or dads can go out with their pushchairs and prams with toddlers or babies in and thatis prams with toddlers or babies in and that is still considered a group of two, so hopefully good for mental health and support. toilets here, public toilets will be open, which was a big issue for quite a lot of people last time, because with pubs, cafes, restaurants closed, a lot of people were caught short and often pa rents people were caught short and often parents with small children are saying, i want to be toilet. so

public tolerance will be open which will hopefully help people. the concept of bubbles was not around in march and april and there are two sorts of bubbles, one is if you live on your own as an adult or single parent, you can form a bubble with another hazard for is also specific bubbles for childcare. —— another household. so you can form a bubble to provide unpaid child care, which is important for grandparents to stop what we do not know is when those are two hassles combine, whether a different person from that hazard, for example code grandma do it one day and ramp up the next day? we have asked the cabinet office and they still do not know themselves. —— micro grandpa the next day. it is an important point for many people, but it is one way that some grandparents can offer childcare for children. another thing at the beginning was shielding? what is

happening this time?” beginning was shielding? what is happening this time? i think it was felt that it was too intrusive, too difficult, for many people, so essentially people are being advised, if they have a specific diseases, specific conditions, to ta ke diseases, specific conditions, to take great care, but it is a bit less restrictive than it was before. so clinically extremely people, people organ transference patients, cancer patients, for example, i've been told to take care, not to go to work really under any circumstances and if they cannot avoid going shopping, but can still go to school. —— if they can, avoid going shopping. visiting care homes, that isa shopping. visiting care homes, that is a bit more liberalised, but you need some kind of barrier, whether a perplexed screen or window, when visiting care homes. thank you. let's go to nick in westminster this

morning for stops and breaking news regarding the mccloskseys scheme. yes, we are talking about half an hour ago about what exactly we think the chancellor is going to say for top —— furlough scheme. big question over the furlough scheme, we are now expecting that the chancellor will say that the furlough scheme will run until march, which will mean a full year of that scheme, that is a big bill for the uk government, potentially tens of billions of pounds for them to pay to people for their salaries. the exact details are not completely clear at the moment. we know that for example there was a tapering down of the system earlier this year. it is not com pletely system earlier this year. it is not completely clear at the moment whether that full 80% of payment from the treasury to people up to £2500 a month is going to continue, but what we do expect is for the chancellor to say that the furlough scheme is going to run until march. that is a big extension, it was only a few weeks ago that the furlough

scheme was supposed to be tapered down, ending a few days ago. it was already extended until the start of december. clearly some concern about the economic impact that is going to be had overwinter, so as i say, full year of the furlough expected and we think the chancellor will say that it and we think the chancellor will say thatitis and we think the chancellor will say that it is going to run until march. nick, there will no doubt be complaints from those who are self—employed saying where is the support for us? we already know that somejobs were ended, support for us? we already know that some jobs were ended, people support for us? we already know that somejobs were ended, people made redundant, because the mccloskseys scheme was extended at pretty short notice, but if the mccloskseys scheme is to be extended until march, what does that say about the likelihood that the lockdown for example that only began today in england, will not end in early december? —— the fifa scheme. i think it is hard to draw any firm conclusions, because remember that the government's plan, if it can get out of lockdown by december, is to

move to the tier system and under the tier system, pubs that do not serve substantial meals, they are forced to close, so you would assume that this furlough scheme would cover them for that period. 0n terms of self and permit, i do not know if the chancellor is going to have more to say on that. remember that they think they have put a more generous offer on the table for people who are self—employed, doubling the rate at which help is available to 80%, roughly in line with the furlough. i do think that rishi sunak does get on his feet in the next 20 minutes and says first mic until the end of march, the labour party are going to inevitably ask why this decision was not made sooner, because the snp and some of the other devolved governments have been saying the weeks now that the furlough scheme should be extended for a long time now. rishi sunak was against doing that and wanted to get the economy moving again. you are saying repeatedly that he could not keep jobs in what he called suspended

animation, he wanted to get to basically figure out which jobs had a long—term future and which did not. and if he is about to announce, as we expect, furlough till the end of march, it is a pretty big u—turn from the government. for the moment, thank you very much. we will be taking you to the commons live just after midday where we are expecting to hear more on that furlough scheme extension from the chancellor, rishi sunak. the governor of the bank of england has been speaking to the bbc about the scale of the uk economic downturn, saying it's unprecedented. he was speaking just this morning and said the economy will not recover to pre—coronavirus levels until early 2022. if you look at history it is an unprecedented year. i think if you put together what we have experienced in our forecast, put together what we have experienced in ourforecast, it looks like the economy will end up ten or 11% below the level of activity we had at the end of last

year. that is historically unprecedented, pretty much. i cannot give you exact figures for the last 300 years, but it is a huge impact. there is nothing, certainly in modern times, that we could point to that would be like that. the governor of the bank of england. injune 2004, bbc security correspondent frank gardner was shot six times by al-qaeda gunmen whilst reporting on growing terrorist activity in saudi arabia. the bullets damaged his spinal nerves. at the age of 43, frank was left partially paralysed and has used a wheelchair ever since. 16 years on, frank has never fully got used to being disabled, and in a moment we will be speaking to frank, but first let's take a look at a clip from a film to be broadcast tonight, where franks speaks about the effects his injuries have had on his life. i look at this and all this paraphernalia hanging above it, this

was my life for months. i was so badly injured that ijust had so much stuff hooked up to me. it was quite grim at seeing it actually, i became almost institutionalised. i'm just thinking how close i came to not making it and to not being a father to my girls and a husband. so damn close. well we can speak now to frank gardner and also to gerard murphy, who also suffered a life—changing accident and features in the documentary. good morning both of you, thank you very much for being here. frank, we are used to seeing you in here doing

your usual work as security con the respondent. why did you want to make this film? mainly because the director was incredibly persuasive. but no, i thought if i am ever going to make a film, if i am ever going to make a film, if i am ever going to go public about all the stuff, the hidden indignities of spinal cord injury and being in a wheelchair, this is the right platform to do it. what i want to do by this, by taking part in this film or presenting it, is to incentivise, encourage other people, there must be thousands out there, who have got conditions and catastrophic injuries and life changing illnesses that are holding them back and they could so easily have held me back, but i have learnt to live with them and now i ski, scuba—diving, still travelling toa ski, scuba—diving, still travelling to a lot of stuff that perhaps people do not imagine i would do. so thatis people do not imagine i would do. so that is why ijust hope it is there as an encouragement that other people put up i'm not embarrassed

about these things. spinal—cord injury brings with it all sorts of grisly details, some of which you will see in the film, and that is the reality of it. we are just flesh and bones, that is all we are. gerard, your accident happened four yea rs gerard, your accident happened four years ago, so gerard, your accident happened four years ago, so still very fresh for you, iam years ago, so still very fresh for you, i am sure. could you just briefly describe what happened in your accident and the impact it has had on you physically? yes, it was about four years ago or so and i was in sweden teaching and i went down to the lake with some friends and we we re to the lake with some friends and we were joking about swimming and how cold it was and i dived in and broke my neck. and i suppose the repercussions of such, i cannot use my legs, my hands or wrists and yes, essentially paralysed. my biceps and

shoulders really. and it for you to be in this film? i would say incredibly important, not just for other people to see what life is like with a disability, but also for myself in kind of seeing what this disability meant to me as well and i think it is interesting to see parallels in a people's lives, such as frank's and mine and yes, it was incredibly important. frank, what have you learned in the last 16 yea rs have you learned in the last 16 years to help you adjust? because you can never truly get used to being ina you can never truly get used to being in a physical state that you are not born in? it is very weird, i still dream able—bodied. so many times, even now, all sitting round pre—covid—19 in a restaurant and people would get up and i think i will get up, wait, i can't. i cannot

get up and walk out with everyone else and that is really strange. i will never get used to that. it requiresafair will never get used to that. it requires a fair degree of patience. i have to be very explicit when travelling and telling people exactly what i need and what i do not need, so i will say, give me a hand with this, can you just give me a push. it is all right, you do not need to grab my arms, i will post myself. everybody is different. gerard has a different disability to me. someone i met in the film who is less disabled than me, there is no one size fits all. it is fascinating meeting the other people like gerard and seeing their different attitudes and seeing their different attitudes and hello, gerard, i'm massively impressed by your positive by the way. gerard, how well-equipped do you find the world is to meet your needs? it has been a strange

experience, i have to admit. i think it is not well—equipped at all. it is so funny being in my position now and looking at the simple steps of going to the toilet and just being before so privileged, i think, but the world is really not well—equipped at all. i think it is really funny how even looking at something as simple as google maps, if i'm trying to go out with friends to look for a cafe or pub, i have to scout out all the ones that are accessible and although i can look at how busy the restaurant is and pictures of the loos and the inside of toilets, it will not tell me that there are three steps up to the front door. surely technology then, frank, should be looking at some of theseissues frank, should be looking at some of these issues to make life less frustrating for people who have

suffered disabilities or are born with disabilities? yes, there are definitely apps that are coming on strea m definitely apps that are coming on stream that tell you where there is a disabled parking and things like that, but often they do not give the full story. so i think one of the things that is really frustrating is that quite a lot of establishments go through what i would call a box ticking exercise, they say we have it disabled access friendly, but nobody has bothered to sit in a wheelchair willing themselves around and finding out that there is a step that, or this door is too narrow. 0ne that, or this door is too narrow. one of the things i often find is a toilet is labelled as disabled, access friendly, but in fact there is not enough room to get the wheelchair in and then shut the door behind you. someone hasjust box ticked it and made it mildly wider without seeing if you can close the door. so frequently, and very frequently, i have to find i cannot get into a disabled loo because an able—bodied person is in it, but so

often i have to go to a normal loo and basically do my business in public ina and basically do my business in public in a full site and that is just something i have had to get used to, but it is frustrating, it is just used to, but it is frustrating, it isjust one of used to, but it is frustrating, it is just one of the daily indignities of it, sadly. yes, you talk about the indignity is a lot in the film andi the indignity is a lot in the film and i think it is probably eye—opening, not for the squeamish. gerard, what are your hopes for your future, given that, as you say, it is only four years ago and you remember that feeling of being able—bodied? i was reading your first reaction was pretty much my mum is going to be very cross with me. i'm sure she was not. yes, that was actually my first thought and even being on the table before surgery even being on the table before surgery and speaking to a nurse and they said we need to call your emergency contact and i remember saying, even though i was drugged up on morphine, saying if it is my dad

tell him, if it is my mum, wrong number. it has been a strange experience for me, my family and my friends. i'm sure. frank, finally, we have the film to look forward to tonight, for you, what has helped in making this film? in terms of the weight that you might be able to accept more what has happened to you from speaking to other people about their experiences? i think everything is relative. you look at your own condition compared to other people and think well, 0k, in some cases i look up to gerard's attitude. i also think wow, i am lucky that i have more mobility than he has, then i look at some of the other contributors and i think well, thatis other contributors and i think well, that is pretty tough, they have gone through a tough situation, him and his wife, you bounce off other people's conditions and you look at your own and try to get a positive

spin of it. life goes on, i still have myjob, spin of it. life goes on, i still have my job, thank spin of it. life goes on, i still have myjob, thank god. there is nature all around and i get a lot of encouragement from friends and from just being in a natural environment every time i get out of town, so thatis every time i get out of town, so that is a help. we have a ramp here but if it is not working for you, you must tell us but i'm pretty good at telling people when things are going wrong, i do not hold back on that, trust me. i know, and we are very grateful. thank you, both. we look forward to seeing the film. coming up — we'll bring you the statement from the chancellor rishi sunak as the bbc learns he is set to extend to the furlough scheme. he will stand up in the commonsjust after midday and of course we will

wa nt to after midday and of course we will want to know whether it will be the full 80% that is currently available that will be extended. and as counting continues in georgia, we'll keep across all the twists and turns after the election in america. now it's time for a look at the weather with carole. hello again. there's still some dense fog patches to watch out for and some of this will lift in the next couple of hours, but some of it could stick, and if it does so, then that will suppress the temperatures. high pressure is in charge. you can see there are no isobars in the centre of this, so no wind to move that along. however, the isobars are close together across the far north of scotland and the northern isles, so you've got gusty winds today. when the fog does lift, and it should for most of us, we will see a return to some brighter skies across parts of england and also wales. but there is going to be quite a bit of cloud coming in on the wind from the atlantic. however, as it bumps into the grampians, it should disperse and we will see some sunshine across north—east scotland with temperatures responding and getting up to 15 degrees. generally we are looking at about 9—12 degrees.

through this evening and overnight, we will see another cold night in prospect, particularly across the south, with once again some mist and fog patches forming. these temperatures are of towns and cities. in rural areas, they will be lower. the mist and fog tomorrow should lift more readily across the south. because there will be more in of a breeze as we return to some sunnier skies. the mist and fog tomorrow should lift more readily across the south because there will be more of a breeze and we will see a return to sunnier skies. for northern ireland, northern england and scotland, at times there will be quite a bit of cloud around, but we will see some brightness and some showers coming in across the outer hebrides. temperatures, 11 to about 13 degrees. but it is going to turn milder through the weekend as the wind changes to have more of a southerly component in it. you can see the blue has been pushed away by the milder yellow and amber. so first thing on saturday we could see some mist and fog for example across the vale of york, south—east scotland, which could be slow to clear. but there will be a lot

of dry weather around, fair bit of sunshine and later in the day more cloud will come in across the south—west, the wind will pick up and we will see the arrival of some rain. you can see the temperatures also picking up. 15 degrees is what we can expect across the south on saturday. on sunday, that band of cloud and rain will continue to migrate steadily northwards. the timing of this could change, as indeed could the positioning. but we think at the moment most of the rain will be in the west, we will see some getting into eastern areas but behind it it should brighten up and our temperature range, nine to 16 in london.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the bbc understands that the furlough scheme will be extended until march, though it's not clear if this will provide the same level of support that is currently available. the full details are set to be announced in the commons within the next few minutes by the chancellor rishi sunak. a month—long lockdown begins today in england, to combat the spread of coronavirus, with pubs, restaurants and nonessential shops closed. the result of the us presidential election remains in the balance as counting continues in a handful of battleground states. democratjoe biden is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. meanwhile, the trump campaign

launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states, and wants a recount in wisconsin. trump supporters, some of them heavily armed, gathered outside centres where the votes are still being counted in arizona and detroit. in the last few minutes, we've heard that the chancellor is set to extend the furlough scheme, which subsidises the wages of people who can't do theirjobs, until march. the full details will be unveiled in a statement by rishi sunak in the commons shortly. we will take you there when he appears. it's not clear if it will be the full 80% currently available.

0ur political correspondent, nick eardley, is at westminster. the furlough scheme to be extended we believe. exactly. it is a pretty big place that we are exposing from the chancellor in the next few minutes. we are you will remember that the government was trying to wind down at the furlough scheme and replace something that encouraged employers to people back to work. at the weekend, the prime minister said that because of the new lockdown in england, the furlough scheme full 80% pay was being extended until the 2nd of december. we are now expecting that it will be extended again until march. the details of this are going to be important. we don't know exactly whether the chancellor is going to offer the full support that is on the cards now or do what he did earlier this year and offer some sort of system that tapers down the amount that the government has to pay and encourages employers to pay more. we don't know

if it will count everywhere across the uk, or only in areas that see particular kinds of restrictions. but, again, it is the chancellor coming back to tell mps that he is happy to put a lot of money on the line, to sign another check to try to keep people in theirjobs. it is another big moment in this crisis. and the lockdown that has begun today in england, due to end on the 2nd of december, but with the furlough scheme potentially being extended to march, people will be saying, "hold on, how long is this lockdown really going to be?"” think that is absolutely right. people will be asking that question. i have to be honest, at the moment, it is quite hard to give an answer on that because the position of the government when it comes to england is that the measures that have been put in place that started today will last four weeks, they will expire on the 2nd of december. they then want to go back onto that tiered system

which means their areas which could be facing restrictions which are in tier 3, like be facing restrictions which are in tier3, like in be facing restrictions which are in tier 3, like in hospitality telling that it has to close four weeks or even months. it is very hard to tell at the moment. but one other thing that i think will become a conversation this afternoon is why the government has waited until now to provide what could be a bit of certainty for people across the country. you will remember that labour, the snp, devolved governments have been calling for the furlough to be extended for some time. the welsh government last month was a saying that they were going into the circuit breaker and wa nted going into the circuit breaker and wanted to know that this was going to be there for the duration. and that offer wasn't made by the treasury. as i say, rishi sunak was one of the ministers in government who was trying to get people back to work by saying, "look, we can't keep the scheme going forever, we can't keep people injobs that the scheme going forever, we can't keep people in jobs that aren't necessarily going to be there at the end of the crisis. we have to figure out how the economy is going to

work, so let's get people back to work, so let's get people back to work and encourage employers to be a bit more towards the cost of that." there will be questions about whether a delay in making that decision was potentially met where some people fell through the cracks, some people fell through the cracks, some people fell through the cracks, some people will lose theirjobs. there are somejobs some people will lose theirjobs. there are some jobs that were closed even though the furlough scheme was then at the last minute extended. but some people have not received any support from the government, they will be asking what about us? that is absolutely right, one of the things we have had this week was an extension of the support for self—employed people. the government introducing a more generous scheme for those who qualify. but there are many self—employed people who have fallen through the cracks in that scheme as well. they didn't have the paperwork to show that they were earning a certain amount or they have only become self—employed recently so they have not had that support. there are big questions over exactly how they are going to

be helped. the government has argued for things like the benefit system, the universal credit for example has been a big part of this. but there has been that question brewing over the last few weeks. we heard it from greater manchester's may andy burnham, that concern that certain parts of england had been at the highest level of restrictions for quite a while. there had been some pretty big restrictions on hospitality in places like manchester, places like liverpool, they were saying they needed to support them but the government didn't want to do it. the scottish government, the welsh government have been saying for the last few days, "if you are extending further until the end of the lockdown in england on the 2nd of december, you need to extend it for us if we need to go back to lockdown in some future point." borisjohnson did make that promise in the commons earlier this week that this scheme was uk—wide and that it would be there to help everybody across the uk when they needed it. we are expecting in the last few minutes ——

next few minutes that the chancellor will put some flesh on the bones on that promise and say, "the scheme came on in march, we will extend it until march next year, but really crucial in that will be the details." i expect a lot of people, businesses, opposition parties, devolved governments are really going to want to see the fine print on this, to work out exactly what it means the people's pockets. nick, for the moment, thank you very much. we are waiting for the chancellor rishi sunak to appear in the house of commons to make that statement. we expected him to be here by now, but apparently he is running 10—15 minutes late and will be back there as soon as minutes late and will be back there as soon as he appears. the governor of the bank of england has been speaking to the bbc about the scale of the uk economic downturn, saying it's unprecedented. he was speaking just this morning and said the economy will not recover to pre—coronavirus levels until early 2022. i think if you look at history, of

course, as you are indicating, this has been an unprecedented year. i think if you put together what we have experienced in our forecasts, it looks like the economy will end up it looks like the economy will end up10% or it looks like the economy will end up 10% or 11% below the level of activity we had at the end of last year. now, that is, historically, unprecedented. i can't give you exact figures for the last 300 yea rs, exact figures for the last 300 years, but it is a huge impact. i mean, there is nothing certainly in modern times that we could point to which would be like that. the governor of the bank of england andrew bailey there. the result of the us election remains in the balance, as votes continue to be counted in key battleground states. joe biden is inching closer to victory after claiming michigan overnight, with reports suggesting

he will take more key states today. the trump campaign is taking legal action in several areas, calling for counts to be stopped. let's get some detail on the results, and they are extremely close. these are the latest electoral college figures. joe biden on 243 votes, and donald trump on 214. a candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to secure the presidency. joe biden claimed michigan overnight, but no result has yet emerged in pennsylvania — a big prize with its 20 electoral votes. we're expecting an announcement from wisconsin shortly, but most us media outlets expect it to go the the democrats. this is the popular vote so far — joe biden at 50% with donald trump at 47%. mr biden has racked up more than 71.5 million votes, the highest number won by any presidential candidate ever. mr trump has also pulled in more votes than he gained in 2016, with preliminary figures showing the highest turnout since 1900. the democrats' hopes of making big gains in the us congressional elections have so far failed to materialise. they're expected to remain in control of the house

of representatives, but with a reduced majority. at the moment, it looks like the republicans are on track to keep hold of the senate. this report now from our north america correspondent, ben wright. there are still millions of votes to count, and this presidential race is not decided. in georgia, donald trump kept the narrowest of leads over joe biden as ballots were tallied late in the night. it was a scene repeated in the handful of states that will now decide this election. at the moment, it isjoe biden sounding confident. he currently has more electoral college votes than his rival michigan, a democratic gain, and wisconsin looks to have gone the same way. here, the people rule. power can't be taken or asserted. it flows from the people. it is their will that determines who will be the president of the united states, and their will alone.

in nevada, the two candidates are neck and neck, and the state will release more results on thursday. in arizona, once a republican stronghold, joe biden stayed slightly ahead while election officials counted the remaining postal ballots. after president trump prematurely declared victory and erroneously claimed in a tweet to have won states he hadn't, republicans filed a string of lawsuits and complaints. we're going to win pennsylvania, but they're going to try and cheat us out of it because they know it's their only path to victory. they know it's the only path to victory. we came here today and met with all our lawyers and we are going to file a suit in pennsylvania. after an attempt by the trump campaign to stop the count in michigan, the state's chief election officer called the lawsuit meritless. we're focused on getting this right in a way that can withstand any court challenges. i'll also mention we've seen this not just in michigan but in other states. a lot of times court challenges or allegations are thrown around to further political agendas, as opposed to actual legal claims. we could still be waiting

a while to discover who the next president will be, as an unprecedented volume of postal votes are counted. but it's the current occupant of the white house who is trying to catch up. let's take a look at how some of the other key states are doing. in pennsylvania, with 89% of the vote counted, president donald trump is slightly ahead of his rival joe biden with 50.7%. joe biden is in the lead in nevada, another key state, he's got 49.3% of the vote there so far. and we're expecting a result from wisconsin soon, 99% of the vote has been counted, with democratic candidatejoe biden looking on track to win the state. and as counting continues in georgia, we'll keep across all the twists and turns after the election in america. let's show them fulton county. we we re let's show them fulton county. we were hailing a little early from the officials there about how they are faring. there are 16 electoral

couege faring. there are 16 electoral college votes available from georgia. as we were just saying, donald trump just slightly ahead by around 1% at the moment with 96% of those votes counted. let's take you to pennsylvania, another important state, not least because there are 20 electoral college votes that are available from this particular state. 90% of the votes counted so far, and as we were hearing earlier from the london bureau chief of the new york times, the mail—in votes have been so important this time and have been so important this time and have rather skewed things. and they have rather skewed things. and they have made the polls look like they are not particularly reliable. just to let you know that there are different tallies that different news sites are showing, that is because bbc considers some of these results too early to project. one of them, wisconsin, which has ten electoral college votes joe

them, wisconsin, which has ten electoral college votesjoe biden. a quick look at the house of commons when this is where we are exciting to see the chancellor rishi sunak appearing soon to tell us about the extension of the furlough scheme. so, staying with the us election. mail—in ballots are still being counted as we saw that in georgia. 0ur correspondent, larry madowo, spoke to an election official who described the process in fulton county. right now, they get a tray of ballots, they will put it through the opener extractors, and once they get him out of the envelopes, they will go over to these people that are preparing them for the scanners in the back. 0nce are preparing them for the scanners in the back. once they go through the scanners, we take them over to our warehouse and there is a vote review panel over there, and that panel will look at any of the ballots that have been flagged by the software for voter intent —— where voter intent is in question.

what they will do is adjust determine how the, what the voter's intent was. they wanted to vote for this candidate or that candidate. all these ballots that are being counted here, they had to have been received by when? 7pm on election day. is it possible to add any ballot after that to this group? no, we closed all of our drop boxes at 7pm on election night. and if we didn't receive something in the mail by 7pm on election night, anything received after then was rejected. so you started with a of these? yes, approximately 142,000. and now you are down to the last 14000 and 15,000? yes. we have been doing about 3500 per hour over the last couple of hours. and that has actually accelerated as the day has gone by. so hopefully we will be able to push on through and get done

with this by 6am am. able to push on through and get done with this by sam am. that is the picture in a fulton county in georgia. let'sjoin our correspondent in westminster we are waiting for rishi sunak to tell us about the extension of the furlough scheme. what we know is that it is expected that the chancellor will extend the furlough scheme in some form until march, which will mean it will have been in place for one year. what we are watching out for is the detail, to exactly what that will entail. will it be the 80% level that was on offer to people just now? will it be any caveats like businesses being forced to close by nor for that to apply? we do expect him to cover the whole of the uk, the scheme has so far. i would also watch out for quite a bit of political criticism of the government for not making this decision sooner. we have had opposition parties and devolved governments calling for the extension of the furlough for some time. the political context for this

is that the chancellor really didn't wa nt to is that the chancellor really didn't want to do this. he introduced a new scheme that was supposed to come into play at the start of this month which was to replace the furlough. it was supposed to mean that employers would have to contribute a lot more to keep their employees on the books. it was supposed to figure out whichjobs the books. it was supposed to figure out which jobs and a long—term future. clearly, over the last few days, things have changed considerably. the furlough scheme was already extended until the 2nd of december to match with the dates of december to match with the dates of the new england— wide lockdown, but we are now expecting in the next few minutes details of exactly how it will be extended now even further into march. we have just seen that the chancellor rishi sunak has sat down in the house of commons. we are expected to hear from down in the house of commons. we are expected to hearfrom him down in the house of commons. we are expected to hear from him very soon. but there will be complaints, no doubt, from those who haven't had any support from the government all year. i think that is right, particularly self—employed people, some of whom who have had very little support. there have been a lot of questions over why the

government didn't increase it to people who did qualify a bit sooner. there is also the question of the furlough scheme, as i say, why wasn't it extended earlier? it isn't just a political one, it is a real—life one as well because i suspect some of our viewers, many people at home will be asking whether jobs could have people at home will be asking whetherjobs could have been saved. let's have a listen to the chancellor. this is the action we have to take between now and the end of december to control the spread of coronavirus. in response, we are providing significant extra support to protectjobs providing significant extra support to protect jobs and providing significant extra support to protectjobs and livelihoods in every region and nation of the united kingdom. an extension to the coronavirusjob protection united kingdom. an extension to the coronavirus job protection scheme, more generous support to the self—employed and paying that support more quickly. cash grants of up support more quickly. cash grants of up to £3000 per month for businesses which are closed. worth over £1 billion every month. £1.6 million for english councils to support

their local economy and local health ca re their local economy and local health care response. longer to apply for our loan schemes and the future fund. the chance to top up bounce back loans and an extension to the mortgage payment holidays. all on top of more than £200 billion of fiscal support since march. this statement fiscal support since march. this state me nt follows fiscal support since march. this statement follows the bantering and's monetary policy decisions earlier today, meaning all economic and monetary institutions are playing their part. as you would expect, the governor and i are in consta nt expect, the governor and i are in constant communication as the situation evolves. our responses are designed to comment each other and provide certainty and support to people and businesses across the uk. the bank's forecast this morning shows economic activity is supported by our substantial school and monetary policy action. and the imf

just last week described the uk's economic plan as aggressive, unprecedented, successful in holding down unemployment and business failures, and one of the best examples of coordinated action globally. mr speaker, our highest priority remains the same: that to protectjobs and priority remains the same: that to protect jobs and livelihoods. priority remains the same: that to protectjobs and livelihoods. that is why we have already decided to extend the job retention scheme to december. but people and businesses will want to know what comes next. how long we plan to keep the scheme open, and also on what terms. they wa nt open, and also on what terms. they want certainty. the government to's intention is for the new health restrictions to remain only until the start of december. but as we saw from the first the economic effects are much longer lasting for businesses and areas that the duration of any restrictions. and as

the bank of england has said this morning, the economic recovery has slowed. and the economic risks are skewed to the downside. given this significant uncertainty, a worsening economic backdrop, and the need to give people and businesses security through the winter, i believe it is right to go further. so we can announce today that the furlough scheme will not be extended for one month, it will be extended until the end of march. the government will continue to pay people's wagers, up to 80% of the normal amount, all employers will have to pay for i was not worked is the cost of employer mixed and pension contributions. we will review the policy in january to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employees to contribute more. of course, as the furlough itself is

now being extended to the end of march, the original purpose of the job retention bonus to incentivise employers to keep people in work until the end of january employers to keep people in work until the end ofjanuary obviously it falls away. instead, we will redeploy a retention incentive at the appropriate time. and for self—employed people, i can confirm that the next income support grant which covers the period november to january will now increase to 80% of average profits, up to £7,500. mr speaker, i also want to reassure the people of scotland, wales and northern ireland. the furlough scheme was designed and delivered by the government of the united kingdom on behalf of all the people of the united kingdom where ever they live. that has been the case since march, it is the case now, and will remain the case until next march. it is a demonstration of the strength of the

union and an undeniable truth of this crisis we have only been able to provide this level of economic support because we are a united kingdom. and i can announce today that the upfront guaranteed funding for the devolved administrations is increasing from £14 billion to £16 billion. this treasury, has been and will always be the treasury of the whole of the united kingdom. mr speaker, i know that people watching at home will have been frustrated by the changes the government has brought in during the past few weeks. i have had to make rapid adjustments to our economic plans as the spread of the virus has accelerated. so i would like to take this opportunity to explain how and why this has happened. during the summer as we began why this has happened. during the summer as we began slowly unlocking. it was our hope that the country

would continue to be economically open, albeit with local restrictions being put in place as and when needed. we knew there would likely bea needed. we knew there would likely be a resurgence in the spread of the virus, but with increased nhs capacity and test and trace, our belief was we would be able to stay ahead of the virus. on this basis, we designed an economic approach which continued providing wage support to people, incentivised businesses to retain staff beyond the end of the furlough scheme, and created new job creation the end of the furlough scheme, and created newjob creation and training schemes such as kick—start. all built to support an economy that was broadly open but operating with restrictions and overall lower demand. at the time, this approach was not government acting alone, our proposals secured wide—ranging support. it was their hope as it was hours that the public health

situation will allow us to keep businesses and workplaces open. the virus, however, continued to spread. localised restrictions were having an impact, and so we intensified this approach and added further areas. as these restrictions intensified, the economic impact, particularly on industries such as the hospitality sector, what significant. so, in response, we altered our approach to wage support making it much more generous to employers and in turn detecting jobs. we also introduced a range of grants to businesses whether open or closed to help them meet their fixed costs. and additional funding for local authorities to respond to specific local economic challenges. but again, the virus continue to spread. but more quickly. and so we arrive at last week when the government's scientific and medical advisers presented data which showed

that r is greater than one in all parts of the country, that the nhs was at risk of being overwhelmed in a matter of weeks and the likely result of the loss of life that would accompany such an event. the only viable solution left to protect our nhs was the reimposition of a temporary significant enhanced restrictions in england in addition to those in wales, northern ireland and scotland. and so, given these changed public health restrictions and the economic problems they would cause in business and job closures, i felt it best to extend the furlough scheme rather than transition at that precise moment to the newjob transition at that precise moment to the new job support transition at that precise moment to the newjob support scheme. now, political opponents have chosen to attack the government for trying to keep the economy functioning and to make sure the support we provide encourages people to keep working. and they will now no doubt criticise the government on the basis we have

had to change our approach. but to anyone in the real world, that is just the thing you have to do when the circumstances change. we all hope for the best, but make sure we plan for any eventuality. we can reintroduce the furlough now only because we kept the system on which it is based operational because there was always the possibility that we would be back in this situation. i will leave that we would be back in this situation. iwill leave it that we would be back in this situation. i will leave it to the people of this country to decide whether they believe the government is trying its best to support people through an unprecedented crisis, to decide whether it is a good or bad thing to alter our economic plans as a health restrictions we face change. what i know is that the support we are providing will protect millions ofjobs. what i know is that it is never wrong to convey confidence in this country in our economy through our words and action. and what i know is that

today's announcement will give people and businesses up and down our country immense comfort over what will be a difficult winter. and i commend this statement to the house. i now call the shadow chancellor. thank you very much, mr speaker. businesses and workers have been pleading for certainty from this government, but the chancellor keeps ignoring them until the last possible moment afterjobs have been lost and businesses have gone bust. the national lockdown was announced on saturday, many weeks after both sage and labour called for a circuit breaker. the chancellor ridicules those proposals for shorter, more effective circuit breakers as a blunt instrument. just a moment ago, he argued that it was only last week when the government scientific and

medical advisers presented data showing that the nhs was at risk of being overwhelmed. sage presented that evidence, mr speaker, on the zist that evidence, mr speaker, on the 21st of september. so i will give him the chance now to correct the record and a state that actually the government knew about that evidence many weeks ago rather than at last week. he can intervene only if he wishes to correct the record. no, he hasn't done that. that delay in influencing those measures, we know, has cost livelihoods and lives. now, when the lockdown was announced, the prime minister said furlough would be extended for one month. five hours before that scheme was due to end. two days later, realising the self—employed have been forgotten, there was a last—minute change to there was a last—minute change to the self—employed scheme. now further changes. the chancellor's fourth version of his winter economy plan injust fourth version of his winter economy plan in just six weeks. the chancellor can change his mind at the last minute, mr speaker, but

businesses cannot. we need a chancellor who is in front of the problems we face, not one who is a lwa ys problems we face, not one who is always a step behind. hospitality workers in the north until last saturday had to plan on the basis that they would have received two thirds of their previous income. two thirds, not for so many 80% or 93%, i think it was the prime minister said, but 80% for huge numbers of them because of this government's failure to fix flaws in the social security system. the chancellor said no to those hospitality workers, only to accept their demands today. the first minister of wales ahead of announcing a firebreak made workable requests that could have offered support to welsh workers, again, the chancellor said no. 0nly support to welsh workers, again, the chancellor said no. only to do a u—turn now. labour argued that scotla nd u—turn now. labour argued that scotland should have access to the furlough scheme, should they need to bea furlough scheme, should they need to be a national lockdown north of the

border. 0nce be a national lockdown north of the border. once again, the chancellor said no. then the prime minister of course said yes, cue another undignified scramble to accept that demand today. how manyjobs could have been saved if this government had recognised reality and let businesses plan for the future? both the chancellor —— with a chancellor apologise to those who have already been made redundant at this last—minute approach? now, earlier this week, i called on the chancellor to use the moment of the national lockdown to set out a proper plan for the next six months, finally today, he has indicated that furlough will remain for lockdown areas until march, as labour called for. and of course that is welcome, but many other questions remain. when will the chance to deliver any information about that retention incentive after labour has been warning for months that it was poorly targeted? by the time we get to march, it will be a whole year since the first economic support

package, but there is still nothing in the chancellor's remarks for those people who have been excluded from government schemes until now. what does the chance of to those groups? will we be facing another scramble before the end of march? can he guarantee we will avoid such uncertainty then? depending of course on the health circumstances? 0ther course on the health circumstances? other country seem to be able to plan for the future, why can this one what is the future of the phantom funding formula providing a seemingly arbitrary £20 per head for local areas and are to restrictions or business support? how long will that support last? what happens when it runs out? when will he fix social security so it stops penalising the self—employed? security so it stops penalising the self—employed ? homeowners and security so it stops penalising the self—employed? homeowners and huge numbers of other workers facing hardship? because of problems that could be fixed quickly? what is his government doing to rectify the problems with the £500 self—isolation payment so that they actually receive it, workers receive it when they need and are not pushed

into debt for doing the right thing? and above all, when will his government enable all local areas to deliver the test, trace and isolate system when we note this is more effective than the enormously expensive national outsource system? the chancellor needs to stop blaming our nhs, as he appeared to do a moment ago, when it is his government that is still blocking local areas in lower tiers from delivering a more effective service. 0ur delivering a more effective service. our economy is struggling more, mr speaker, i am finishing now, our economy is struggling more, mr speaker, iam finishing now, much more than many other countries because this government simply won't acknowledge that until it gets a grip on the health crisis, it won't be able to deal with our economic crisis. confidence is indeed key, and that is what this government needs to start delivering. thank you. cani can ijust can i just say can ijust say to people we do not have interventions and statements, so if you're wondering where the chancellor did not, no problem at

all, i'm just try to be helpful. thank you, mr speaker. i thank the honourable lady for her questions put up to them in turn, mr speaker. the claim that our action was too late is in the words of the government's own medical advisor is a misapprehension, because there is no perfect moment at which to enact measures which have far reaching and damaging consequences for the people and businesses of our country and we should only enact such measures, mr speaker, when it becomes truly unavoidable. mr speaker, it is also entirely false of the party opposite to claim that if we only did what they suggested, things would somehow be different. this is because the party opposite could not actually explain what their position was. at first, it was a circuit breaker for two weeks. then it was an intervention that might last longer, i think we had yesterday three weeks. then it might be something that would need to be reimposed again and again and again. that, mr

speaker, is not a planet that were to support the businesses and people of this country. —— a plan. we have provided the nhs a way that tens of billions of pounds to make sure that they can do the very valuable job that they are doing and they will have our full support over this difficult winter period. just about support for local authorities, we have provided just over £1 billion to give local authorities the ability to support their local businesses and economies through the winter period on top of the direct support that those closed businesses will receive. just about supporting local track and trace efforts and i ee, local track and trace efforts and i agree, that is important, and that is what we have provided on a transparent funding formula almost up transparent funding formula almost up to half £1 billion to local authorities to ensure that they can carry out informant compliance and local contact tracing at the level that they need. the honourable member opposite calls for a six

month plan, but yet she and her party have not put forward a six month plan of their own. mr speaker, i understand why. because they actually know, as most members of this house know, that most people and businesses in this country know, that we are dealing with a once in a century event. because they know, as most members of this house know, and people and businesses up and down the country know, that in the face of such an unprecedented crisis, the government must be flexible to ever changing circumstances. it is not a weakness, mr speaker, to be agile and fast moving in the face of a crisis, but rather a strength. that will not change. we now go down to central devon to the chair of the select committee. thank you. can i just agree with my right honourable friend that taking an iterative approach to these problems and

circumstances change is indeed a strength rather than a weakness for stock and a focus for a moment on the lockdown itself? is my right honourable friend will know, the minutes of the sage meeting stated, andi minutes of the sage meeting stated, and i quote, policymakers will need to consider the analysis of economic impact on the associated harms alongside this epidemiological assessment. this work is under way under the chief economy for as my right honourable friend knows, i wrote to him asking that the analysis referred to in these minutes should be provided prior to the vote that was held yesterday. this would have helped to inform that debate. the reply i received did not provide the information requested, so can my right honourable friend confirm that the sage minutes are relevant when they state that the treasury has worked in this analysis under the author rinses of its chief economist? and if they are accurate, can it be

confirmed that this analysis will be released without delay? mr deputy speaker, i thank my honourable friend phase question and he will know that i replied to him and his committee with the answers to his question that that there does not exist a specific prediction or forecast, which i think is what his asking, but what we did provide and the economic evidence we considered was the context for the lockdown are being imposed and the impact that the initial lockdown has already had, so one could make their own assumptions about what would happen thereafter. he will know as well as i note the 0br are one of our permanent forecasters at what they are forecasting already is that the economy falls by about 10% this year, that and implement reaches 12% in increase of two and a half million people and in the medium term, economy will suffer scarring of about 3%, which represents tens of about 3%, which represents tens of billions of pounds of it less economic outfit and indeed he will of course know the impact this has

had on our public finances will stop as micro economic output. this is before we enter the new restrictions and that will obviously cause additional stress on the numbers outlined for him. he will also see the bank of england's comments this morning and the duration of further restrictions will increase the further scarring on the economy. video link. thank you very much. i'm tempted to read out the comments on tuesday or indeed any of the contributions i have made in the last six months because it felt like i have been arguing for the same things from the uk government all this time. the reality is that scotland, wales, northern ireland and the north of england have been divvied by the chancellor until he was forced to lockdown in england. i'm glad the furlough and the south implement support scheme has been extended to march, but we should be clear that this kind of support is not unique to the uk and countries of all sizes have been supporting the people and many have done it

more competently and generously than the uk. can he confirm that the furlough scheme is not tied to any particular tier and it will be available to all who need it at 80%? would he refrain from cutting it back to 60% as before? because that cost many businesses and employees are daily. many businesses are as good as closed, especially hospitality and tourism, travel, events and culture and they meet ongoing support. —— need ongoing support for the top ten to the issue of those excluded from the support schemes and it is disgraceful and unacceptable that there are still nothing in his statement for them after eight months. can you translate tell me why he is still choosing to ignore 3 million people across these islands? —— micro candy chancellor tell me. many sectors across the economy in which they work are not going back to normal anytime sinful, i spoke to scottish hospitality this money and they are particularly worried about the winter months. does make at any help

them immensely if vat cuts that the chancellor had previously announced could be made permanent. i welcome the additional £2 billion for scotland, because that scotland has been able to provide hospitality businesses, but we need planning for future funding to plan ahead. what provision is the chancellor making for supporting those yet lose their jobs as businesses go to the wall? will he extend the £20 uprating of universal credit into the year ahead as well? will he expand it to legacy benefits, because there is on legacy benefits, because there is on legacy benefits are really struggling? will he the statutory sick pay and listen to the demands for women to be kept safe and there incomes protected? will be chancellor work with all parties and devolved institutions and at the very least give the finance secretary of scotland of a

phone call? i'm glad the honourable lady welcome to the extension ofjob support through to next year and with regard to scotland, i think it is clear that even at the first minister has conceded that this generous support currently available in scotland is only possible and affordable because we have a treasury that represents the whole the united kingdom. i can confirm that of course the cg rs is a uk white scheme and we will continue to apply the furlough teach part of the uk equally. —— white scheme. no matter which part of the region they live in the same. the honourable lady also asks specific questions and i'm happy to provide the a nswe rs , and i'm happy to provide the a nswers, scotla nd and i'm happy to provide the answers, scotland will receive an upfront guaranty today worth £8 billion, an increase of £1 billion on the previously agreed upfront guarantee. it is that funding for the scottish government to use as they see fit. the honourable lady asked many questions about supporting businesses and people, it is of course up to the scottish

government to make those choices of what to do with the extra billion pounds and we look forward to hearing what they plan to do with that additional funding. it is also worth bearing in mind, as we hear from the honourable lady about the future scottish budget, that the scottish government has the ability to raise taxes. the scottish government has the ability to raise the funds it needs to fund the various projects they would like to and if these things are important, then of course the scottish comment would be able to make those decisions on behalf of their people and be held accountable for those. —— scottish government. and be held accountable for those. -- scottish government. thank you and can! -- scottish government. thank you and can i thank my right honourable friend for demonstrating the strength of the union in a showing that with the best will in the world, the scottish government would not have the ability to have the resources to protect scottish jobs in this way. but is it not now more important than ever that across the whole of the united kingdom we stimulate wealth creation? creating new goods and services that using

the natural creativity and innovation of all the people of the united kingdom? we can look forward to merit are refined using his energy to bring forward proposals in this area based on sound financially prudent principles. can i thank my right honourable friend and i absolutely agree and he knows better than at most the power of the union and has seen it demonstrated cou ntless and has seen it demonstrated countless times over the years of his service and he is also right about the power of the enterprise to drive our recovery and i can give every assurance that those principles will be at the heart of everything we do and ensure that we have a swift and generous recovery that will benefit citizens wherever they live. video link. thank you very much, mr deputy speaker. the chancellor's u—turn on furlough comes chancellor's u—turn on furlough co m es after chancellor's u—turn on furlough comes after intense lobbying by the tuc, cbi, labour and comes after intense lobbying by the tuc, cbi, labourand leaders comes after intense lobbying by the tuc, cbi, labour and leaders in the liverpool city region. can you

translate spain by workers in the north were expected to get by on 67% of their precrisis wages when tier 3 restrictions were put in place, but that that has now changed to 80% once areas in the south of the country being locked down? and will he give a cast—iron guarantee for people that work is in the north will never again be treated as second—class citizens? will never again be treated as second-class citizens? mr speaker, it is simply not the case that the way to support schemes we have put in place differentiate between people on the basis of where they live. all the schemes, whether the furlough scheme orjob support scheme, treat people equally wherever they live in every region or nation of the uk. suggest otherwise is simply wrong and a misrepresentation of the honourable lady knows to be the coast. as you mentioned the tuc, the tuc welcome to the introduction of thejob support scheme and i'm grateful to their help in designing it. harriett baldwin. let's leave the house of

commons with the chancellor, rishi sunak, answering questions about the extension of the furlough scheme. that's speak to nick adley who is listening to that in westminster. it will be the full 80% of wages until the end of march. it is a big announcement from the chancellor. a big spending commitment and a bigger change of heart from the government. remember that they wanted to replace the furlough scheme. instead of doing that, then extending it, so it will have a run for a year by the time it is now due to end at the end of march. let me just talk you through some of the details. as you see, the full 80% of furlough, when it was first introduced —— like when it was first introduced —— like when it was first introduced, was to be in place. the only contributions employers will need to make is national insurance and pensions contributions. it was about six weeks ago that rishi sunak announced the plan to replace furlough with a job support scheme which saw a lot less support from the government, a lot more owners put on employers.

0ne detail is just coming out from the treasury is that anyone who has been made redundant since that announcement was made on the 23rd of september can now be rehired and re —followed september can now be rehired and re—followed under this new scheme. does reffell 0vingdean road. something you had from the labour party there is that this came to later led to the situation where some people had fallen through the cracks. the commitment the treasury is making that if you lost yourjob after the 23rd of september, you can go back onto furlough under this new scheme. it was due to last until the end of march, as things stand, rishi sunak adamant that the lockdown in england that starts today will only last until the 2nd of december. a lot of people were understandably ask if this intention means the government is now looking towards lockdown measures to be in place for a lot longer. they are denying that

just now, but remember that on the 2nd of december, ministers want to move back to that tier scheme, where you do still if you are under the very higher tier, see significant reductions in hospitality. clearly the chancellor has taken the decision that the health picture has changed so significantly in the last few weeks that the economic picture has changed so significantly last few weeks as well that the garment has to make a big pledge again and again and again it put its hand in his pocket to give people salaries. —— government has to make a big pledge. what about the self employed, because they feel very much overlooked throughout this? we heard earlier this week that commitment from ministers that instead of a 40% profits for self—employed people, 80% would be paid. that is going to be up to £7,500 for the three month period. that is the pledge the government is making. there are still some

questions over people who fall through the cracks of these schemes. they cross questions have been there for some time and i'm sure they will continue to be asked. the political picture as this is a decision the government did not want to make and is trying to move away from these really major interventions in the job market to try and scale back the tens of billions it was having to pay for that. but as i say, the picture has changed so much that the chancellor has decided that if he does not do this, it could lead to a wave of joblessness, does not do this, it could lead to a wave ofjoblessness, said the government is once again saying it is making a major intervention in thejobs is making a major intervention in the jobs market. nick, for the moment, thank you very much. nick in westminster. let's go back to the house of commons and hear more of those questions being put to the chancellor regarding the announcement he has being making. 0ur single overriding goal to keep people in work. video link. thank

you very much, mr speaker. the chancellor told us in his statements that people and businesses that want to know what comes next. along with try to keep the scheme open and what terms, they want certainty. they certainly do and that is why businesses and individuals in my constituency of edinburgh west and across this country are so tired of this constant chop and change. so will the chancellor today admit that what he has to do is extend furlough through to the summer, tojune of 2021, and give those businesses the certainty they need to plan? mr speaker, we have provided that 33 to the end of spring. at the same time as also saying we will review the scheme in january. —— as also saying we will review the scheme injanuary. —— micro provided that certainty. we will review all the other interventions that we were made at. i think that does provide a medium ten certainty that businesses need to plan through the winter and beyond. mr deputy speaker. i'm

pretty bored to be honest, byjust the incredible scale of the support that this government is putting in place for the people of my constituency and beyond. a massive recovery to take place with those jobs, it is vital. money being invested in kick start, it is my right honourable friend agree with me that prioritising help for these people, young workers, such as those leaving run short college is the right thing to do and a key part of how we're going to recover? my honourable friend is that silly rightful stop it young people who are most impacted. —— absolutely right. they should be at the heart of thinking about the recovery. the kick—start scheme is at the centre of that, providing fully funded job placements that at—risk young people. tens of thousands are starting theirjobs in the coming days and weeks and we look forward to those young people having a

springboard to their career in her constituency and elsewhere. can i thank the chancellor for what he hasn't said today. the equality for all in the u knighted kingdom and northern ireland, whether you are in an umbrella, dublin, belfast, it is equal. will be help, it will go before... a specific question here, one set been recently set up but excluded from the financial support schemes and are under pressure, it is good to hear the united kingdom and northern ireland are being treated equally. i can confirm all ourjob schemes work on a universal

basis no matter where we live and that will continue to be the case. i can confirm an increase in the funding scheme for barnet consequence was in northern ireland bringing the total to £2.8 billion, an increase today and i'm sure that funding can be used to support businesses in a way the honourable gentleman describes. can i thank my right honourable friend for the support that we have received. 8800 jobs have been protected in my constituency. self—employed people have also been supported for some across scotland, wales and northern ireland that has been unprecedented levels of support through schemes, barnet consequence was and more throughout this pandemic. could my right honourable friend just confirm again that this house stands for the whole of the united kingdom? that it

is our shared markets and economy, strong economy, that makes this level of support possible and that all the parts of our union will continue to receive the extension and support of our government? mr speaker, my honourable friend put it incredibly well. this has been a crisis that has engulfed our entire united kingdom and we will get through it together as one united kingdom and this government will continue to support businesses and people wherever they live. video link. we will leave rishi sunak their answering those questions in the house of commons and turn our attention to scotland for a moment, because the scottish first minister has given an update on the queen of our situation there. —— on the coronavirus. she was addressing mps in parliament a short time ago and began by explaing the current r number on the spread of the virus

we will shortly publish the latest estimate of scotland's r number and we suspect that will show that the letter a rt we suspect that will show that the letter art number is now hovering around one. that is clearly progress on at the last couple of weeks, but of course we require to continue to exercise caution around that. with some other indicators, that does suggest that the tough measures that have been in place in recent weeks and the compliance of the public with those measures is starting to have an effect. but we have to continue to be careful and cautious. we will continue to monitor the latest data closely ahead of the first review of the new levels system which will take place next tuesday. we have seen in other countries, france and spain for example, a sharp rise in cases being followed by a flattening of cases and then at being followed by another rise in cases. as i have been saying this week, it is not

enough for us, as we head into winter, simply to see a levelling off ora winter, simply to see a levelling off or a slowing down in a rise of cases, and let me be clear, that is what the r about slightly above what would deliver. we want to see going into winter, to protect the country, the nhs and save lives is a reduction in the number of cases and that would be a factor as we make our decisions in the next few days. key to all of this of course, key to giving ourselves that the best chance of avoiding restrictions further is it for everyone to abide the rules, that is having an impact andi the rules, that is having an impact and i appeal to people to continue to do that. let me finish with a reminder for to do that. let me finish with a reminderfor people of to do that. let me finish with a reminder for people of the rules in level three areas, they should not to travel outside their own local authority area unless essential, people in other parts of scotland should not travel into level three areas, again unless it is essential. we are asking people also not to travel outside of scotland right now to other parts of the uk or overseas. none of us that should be visiting each other‘s homes except for purposes that shuts you as child

ca re for purposes that shuts you as child care or looking after a frail or vulnerable person. when you do meet people from other households in a public place or outdoors, stick to the limits, no more than six people from two households. nicola sturgeon. in a moment the bbc news at one with simon mccoy. now it's time for a look at the weather. a real mixture of whether to take us through the rest of this afternoon for england and wales, we did see if you mist and fog patches dotted around this morning. most of those that were not particularly thick, so tending to clear and left as they wait to give some sunny skies and some across the south already seeing lots of sunshine this morning. across the central swathe of the uk, a lot of cloud, thick enough to give an odd stop of drizzle for northern england for top scotland, the clouds breaking across the north—east and aberdeenshire has become quite one for the time of year, temperatures reaching 50 degrees and could see highs of 15 or 16. the air is warmer across scotland. —— reaching 15 degrees. at the start of the month,

the air was sitting across the bahamas, whereas in england and wales it was across canada for stock thatis wales it was across canada for stock that is why it is cooler in the south. looking at the weather picture as we go through this evening and overnight, again we are expecting some mist and fog patches to form, particularly across england and wales. 0ne to form, particularly across england and wales. one or two further north, but by and large the eye will continue to be a little milder across scotland, northern ireland and the final thing in. for friday, high—pressure as to whether a separate starting to slip away, the wind is starting to strengthen and turn more towards a south—easterly direction and that will probably mean that the fog patches tend to clear pretty quickly across south—east england, but may well clear and left into low cloud, which could lingerfor a time before that in turn breaks up. probably quite cloudy, i think, in turn breaks up. probably quite cloudy, ithink, in in turn breaks up. probably quite cloudy, i think, in scotland, in turn breaks up. probably quite cloudy, ithink, in scotland, but the best of the sunshine as we go through the date further south across england and wales. temperatures between ten and 30 degrees, senators, it will be telling that bit fresher cooler in

holland and full topless micro ten and 13 degrees. into the weekend it will become pretty cowardly and there will be rain at times, eventually will turn mother from the south. the mother out will arrive across a good part of england and wales, temperatures peaking at 16 degrees. it is quite cool across parts of scotland, highs of 7 degrees or so in glasgow. looks like there will be some rain at times this weekend. probably the wettest weather on sunday, but someone said the batting directly where the heaviest rain will be. a lot of cloud, temp tos edge upwards, highs again of 16.

the chancellor extends the furlough scheme until the end of march — the government will continue paying 80% of wages. there's also the promise of more help for the self—employed — the chancellor says the priority is to protectjobs and livelihoods. the furlough scheme was designed and delivered by the government of the united kingdom, on behalf of all the people wherever they live. we'll be getting the latest from westminster — where the decision follows days of wrangling. also this lunchtime... joe biden edges closer to victory in the us presidential election — all eyes on a handful of key battleground states... i'm not here to declare that we have won, but i am here to report that when the count finishes, we believe we will be the winners.