by i mean, we will know the result by next thursday, i should think. it looks like joe biden next thursday, i should think. it looks likejoe biden is in front, and he is going to win the plurality and he is going to win the plurality and get these 270 electoral college votes. but what we have seen from the trump campaign today is then firing of legal cases left, right and centre in the hope that this might stop things and change the way it is being counted, what ballots are being admitted, and you have just got the biden campaign saying, everybody stay cool, we are going to see this process out. so i think there is greater confidence that biden will get there first. it is whether donald trump is able to mount any kind of credible legal action that this will now hinge on, and so far, i have read an awful lot of allegations, and i have not seen any substance to those allegations. the word fraud is being bandied around, but no one is providing any evidence yet, and until such time as they do, you would have to say, it

is going to bejoe biden, but nothing in this country do we know for certain, particularly in the trump era, when the unexpected a lwa ys trump era, when the unexpected always seems to happen. thank you very much. that's all from the bbc news at six, so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. hello there. we have. had some big con we had some big temperature contrasts we had some big temperature contrasts. we had some big temperature contrasts across the uk on thursday. in the south, got to a ten or ii uk on thursday. in the south, got to a ten or 11 degrees in the sunshine, but across the north it was much warmer than that with

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world and stay with us for the latest news

and analysis on the us presidential contest and the coronavirus pandemic. on the first day of england's four week lockdown, the prime minister has held a press conference outlining how the restrictions lasting will have a real impact on the spread of coronavirus. borisjohnson also outlined the support the treasury was providing for businesses affected. let's listen to some of what he had to say. i know how tough this is. for staff in the nhs and in care homes were facing a tough winter on the phone line. but for families who cannot meet in the way that they want or would want to. for businesses forced to shut just as would want to. for businesses forced to shutjust as they would want to. for businesses forced to shut just as they were would want to. for businesses forced to shutjust as they were getting back on their feet. i know that many of you are anxious, weary and quite

frankly, fed up with the very mention of this virus but i want to assure you that this is not a repeat of the spring. schools, universities and nurseries are all staying open and nurseries are all staying open and these measures, though they are tough, are time—limited. the advice i have received suggests that four weeks is enough for these measures to make a real impact. so these rules will expire and on the 2nd of december we plan to move back to a tiered approach. there is light at the end of the tunnel. we have better treatments and techniques to ta ke better treatments and techniques to take care of those in hospital and largely to the ingenuity of british scientists. rapid testing is being rolled out on a massive scale, with citywide testing starting tomorrow in liverpool. i am hugely grateful to the people of liverpool for their participation in this pilot. i hope

that by working together, we can get that by working together, we can get that great city on top of the virus. more broadly, there is also a very real chance for a safe and effective vaccine. taking those things together, these scientific advances can show us the way ahead and in the meantime, this government will continue to support people affected by these new restrictions. as you know, we have protected almost 10 millionjobs through know, we have protected almost 10 million jobs through furlough and as the chancellor announced today, we are now extending the scheme through to march. we are also extending our support for the self—employed so that the next payment increases to 80% of average products. we are providing cash grants for businesses that are closed worth £1 billion every month. we are giving £1.1

billion to local authorities in england to support businesses and a further £2 billion of funding is guaranteed for scotland, wales and northern ireland. as we face these challenges together, we must look after those most in need. as of september, we have helped over 29,000 rough neighbours of the streets, two thirds of whom are now in settled accommodation. today, we are announcing a further £15 million to help councils offer safe accommodation for people who are sleeping rough or at risk of becoming homeless. this programme will help areas that need additional support most during the restrictions and throughout the winter. these are difficult times and while it pains me to have to ask once again for so many to give up so much, i know that

together we can get through this. so please, for the next four weeks, stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. 50 the prime minister speaking in the last hour or so. let's speak to our political correspondent helen catt. it was an interesting news conference in that usually deserve a big announcements and big changes. it felt as if that whole hour was really just the it felt as if that whole hour was reallyjust the prime minister pleading with the public, essentially saying, look, england is going into this lockdown, other parts are already in one, please, please, do the right thing. yes, it would appear to be a news conference that any actual news and is insofar as it was just a repeat. that any actual news and is insofar as it wasjust a repeat. what that any actual news and is insofar as it was just a repeat. what he seemed to try to do throughout that was to balance this message of on the one hand, saying that this is serious, we need you to follow these rules even though he didn't want to bring them in, and for that end we

got that graph, just the one slide today, we're used to seeing butjust the one side showing actual hospital admissions. he did this to try and ram home the point that this is happening and it is happening now. we got that little animation that then showed it happens once people have been infected in the timescale for when that moves into people being hospitalised. simon stevens described that the intensive care order book that we were looking out over the next month. 0n the one hand, there was the sense that this is real and happening and you need to follow these rules. 0n the other hand, he seemed very keen to try and provide, you heard him say light of the end of the tunnel, he said several times that this is only 28 days. you heard him say there that it is four weeks, he has been told it is four weeks, he has been told it should be enough. he started off at the top that there was going to beat four nations approach to dealing with christmas because many people are worried what would happen at christmas. nobody wants to be the prime minister the cancelled

christmas. there is a huge amount of pressure for this to work. they were certainly trying to get that dual message across of observing the restrictions but they will not be forever. my goodness, there will be questions about quick christmas tree now and then. i thought about the economics of it. it has been a big day in terms of the extension of the furlough scheme. i mean, this could be eye watering sums of money. yes, it absolutely could. a rough costing for it is about £1 billion per millionjobs per month. that is a huge bill that the government is set to run up. the fact that they have now announced that it is going to return in the original form now announced that it is going to return in the originalform of now announced that it is going to return in the original form of the furlough scheme, that is the government paying 80% of an employee's wages until march, provisionally they said that they we re provisionally they said that they were reviewed injanuary to see if there's any tapering, where the employer will have to start paying more as we saw over the summer months. that is a huge change. we

saw over several months in the summer that the chancellor saying that they do not want to continue furlough indefinitely, they want to get back into work. this is not the right scheme. he defended earlier and boris johnson right scheme. he defended earlier and borisjohnson echoed it this evening saying that that was done when the spread of the virus was lower and that it looks like the economy could up and you could get people back to work. the spread of the virus they say has changed and that his wife they have had to change course. labour are very critical saying, hang on, change course. labour are very criticalsaying, hang on, businesses need certain to, there will have been people who are laid off because they did not know that this extension of the more generous furlough was coming back and how to help those people. of course it is backdated to the 23rd of september and that if you have been laid off since then you will be qualifying for it. also the self—employed, up to 80% of their profits between november and january. among criticisms nothing is being done for people who fell through the cracks of the original system. freelance occupations for example, nothing for

them. it is a lot of money, it is a big change but clearly it is what the government thinks is needed at the government thinks is needed at the moment. thank. let's stay with those details. lindsay cook is a personal finance expert, and the financial times' money mentor columnist. hello and welcome to bbc news. it is quite an announcement. talk us through your key frauds. who is this helping? but also who is not helping? but also who is not helping? it is helping an awful lot of employees who many are already talking about redundancy because the old scheme finished last saturday and many employers have had to give notice and redundancy. they are hoping there would be rescued, i know a lot of employers are talking to their accountants and other experts to find out what the details are. they will have to pay pension

contributions and employers national insurance contributions. and holiday entitlements will accrue during this extra furlough period. it is a month with an estimation that it is going to cost about 7 billion for that month. employers, a lot of employers wa nt to month. employers, a lot of employers want to do it and they are hoping to keep staff ready to go back to work when they can open up. some are in hospitality and they just when they can open up. some are in hospitality and theyjust cannot trade at all. others are just, because of social distancing, they cannot have the same number of people in their offices or they cannot have anybody there because the work cannot be done. it is a lot of difficulty. i think both employers and employees want this to work, it is very late notice though, so everybody is going to be burning

the midnight oil trying to make it work for employees as your colleague said, anybody who has been made redundant since september 23 will be able to be re—employed and that is the big hope. also, to qualify for this, you have to be furloughed before june the 30th this, you have to be furloughed beforejune the 30th this year and the company made the application before the end ofjuly. if you are not furloughed before june 30, before the end ofjuly. if you are not furloughed beforejune 30, you will not qualify. there are lots of details, people who have to do caring of their children, they can be furloughed because that will be fine and stop people who are long—term sick, they can be furloughed full stop but there is so much detail of gov uk and everybody is going to be trying to make sure that they can make it work. there are people still falling through the cracks and there are people who are

self—employed or run their own businesses but pay themselves due to legitimate leaf through a company. there are a lot of people in categories who are still struggling. a quick thought about those people. the scheme, it is like the furlough scheme, they have gone back to the basics of starting point. yes it will pay up to seven and a half thousand over the three months but if you... also, it is now also a yearon, if you... also, it is now also a year on, you still have to have failed ina year on, you still have to have failed in a tax return for 2019 tax year. the year ending in march 2019. anybody who has started a business recently, earned more than 50,000 or had profits of more than 50,000, they are not eligible. and they still have mortgages to pay. they are still falling outside stuff they have not included anybody extra into the rules so that they can claim it. thank you for your initial thoughts

tonight. thank you. just to bring you news coming through in the last few moments. it is very much about coronavirus. we're just hearing that the foreign secretary dominic rab is now self isolating. we are being told that dominic rab was told today that someone who he had been in recent close contact, . .. that someone who he had been in recent close contact,... had tested positive. he has taken immediate steps to self—isolate and he is going to work remotely during this time. the foreign secretary self isolating and working from home. that news just threw in the last few moments. more now on the us presidential election. joe biden, the democratic challenger, is edging ever closer to the white house.