are we headed for a winter lockdown? with some restrictions described as inadequate, calls for tougher covid tiers when england's lockdown ends. as new measures are about to be introduced in scotland, fears that england's scheduled lifting of restrictions may not be possible. mr speaker, it is too early to do the analysis that the honourable gentleman requests but of course we remain vigilant. well, soon he has to make a decision on the future of the lockdown, so the earlier we get that information, the better. covid deaths rise for the ninth week in a row. 2,225 died in the uk last week alone, up by more than 600 the week before. so, how festive is this christmas likely to be? i'll be talking to our health editor. also this lunchtime. anger as borisjohnson

describes devolution as a "disaster" in scotland, and tony blair's biggest mistake. a bbc investigation into the awarding of ppe government contracts shows £21 million of taxpayers' money was paid in "consulting fees" to a recently—formed firm in miami, florida. easyjet reports its first annual loss in the airline's 25—year history as the coronavirus crisis continues to bite. now the work begins. after the first succssful docking with a commercial rocket, astronauts get down to business on the international space station. coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news, an exciting afternoon ahead at the atp tour finals as rafa nadal prepares to take on dominic thiem in london.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. are we in for a particularly bleak mid—winter? after the euphoria over news of potential vaccines, the harsh reality that covid restrictions are still with us and could be about to be strengthened. england's lockdown is supposed to end in just two and a half weeks' time, but in the house of commons the health secretary couldn't give any guarantees. this as some health experts are arguing for tougher tiers to be introduced in england. it could all mean a less—than festive christmas period. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. injust seven in just seven days, two potential coronavirus vaccines have provided real hope of normality returning. both the moderna and pfizer chat have yet to be approved but millions of doses have been ordered and st john's ambulance has its volunteers will support the nhs when it is time. we will train, first of all,

oui’ time. we will train, first of all, our 10,000 already trained clinical volunteers, they will have additional training to go into service in a vaccination programme. and then we will move on to recruiting volunteers from outside of stjohn‘s ambulance, from a range of stjohn‘s ambulance, from a range of other voluntary organisations, making sure they have the requisite skills to function in a vaccination centre. the most at risk of the virus will be first in line to receive a vaccine, starting with those who live and work in care homes. but a vaccine is a way off yet and we still have winter to get through. with england's lockdown due to end on 2nd of december, there are calls for the covid tiered system to be strengthened. currently are three levels, the current third level is the base where there is a rule of six and 10pm curfew. at the highest level, very high, no mixing of households indoors or outdoors. pubs and bars are closed unless they

provide a substantial meal. it is claimed tier1 had very little effect on reducing transmission, while the creation of a new tier 4 has been suggested. the health secretary says the measures are being reviewed but it's too early to see how they will proceed. but labour wants answers. can he confirm that it labour wants answers. can he confirm thatitis labour wants answers. can he confirm that it is the government's intention to impose tougher restrictions on tier1 areas post lockdown? mr speaker, it is too early to do the analysis that the honourable gentleman requests, but of course, we remain vigilant. well, $0011 of course, we remain vigilant. well, soon he has to make a decision on the future of the lockdown so the earlier we get that information, the better. excess deaths are the difference between those seen this year and what we would expect based on the past five years. latest figures show there have been more than 70,000 to the pandemic started. this graph shows a huge spike in the number of deaths during the first wave, and the numbers are starting

to rise again. winter is always a difficult time for the nhs, with fears of staff burn out the government is desperate to minimise the damaging impact of covid. u nfortu nately i the damaging impact of covid. unfortunately i have been in a position where high have actually lost colleagues this year to covid—19. for myself personally, i have been in a situation where i have been in a situation where i have been in a situation where i have been treating some of the illicit patients with covid—19 on covid world's illicit patients with covid—19 on covid worlds and in emergency medicine on the front line. you do wonder, could this be you next? while england waits for a vaccine and new restrictions, one thing that is certain is december will be different this year. 0ur health editor hugh pym is here. i don't want to put too much pressure on you but what is christmas looking like? very unclear. everyone wants to know about the christmas holiday season, what might be permissible, how much might people be allowed to mix in family households and so on. and you

heard from matt hancock, the health secretary rather abrupt answer there, it is still too early to say. it's a very, very big decision for ministers in england to make about what will happen after december two, how the tiered restrictions will continue. we heard from a senior official at public health england yesterday that a slight tightening of restrictions within each stage might be necessary through the winter, never mind in the run—up to christmas. susan hopkins of phd said that tier1 christmas. susan hopkins of phd said that tier 1 really christmas. susan hopkins of phd said that tier1 really hadn't christmas. susan hopkins of phd said that tier 1 really hadn't worked christmas. susan hopkins of phd said that tier1 really hadn't worked at all, only some parts of tier 2 had worked, and the most effective set of restrictions were in tier 3, tier 3 plus, adding on something, for example in liverpool with more widespread closures than the government's basic baseline. that they had begun to workjust before they had begun to workjust before the lockdown. so ministers will have to decide which areas go into which tier, after december two, whether they will be tighter in some areas,

and then if there is going to be any relaxation in the run—up to christmas, how that will be managed and whether there will be an immediate tightening straight after christmas. the cabinet office are looking at all of this, i'm told. they are looking at the case data each day, they want to be able to see that cases are coming down because of the lockdown in england. that will not become clear until later this week, probably. then they have got away the whole thing up with is absolutely critical decision and we will be hearing later in scotla nd and we will be hearing later in scotland how they will proceed. an absolutely critical decision for everybody, what will happen through december up until christmas and beyond. thank you very much. in the next hour, nicola sturgeon will announce whether parts of scotland will be moved into the country's highest tier of covid—19 restrictions, level four. the first minister will address parliament at holyrood but she has previously said it "likely" some areas of scotland will face tougher restrictions for a "limited period". 0ur scotland correspondent alexandra mckenzie is in glasgow. what are we expecting to hear?

what are we expecting to hear7m has been hinted at her several days that some areas of scotland would be moved from level three into the highest level, level four, which is the closest to lockdown. those areas are likely to be the greater glasgow and clyde health board area, and north and south lanarkshire. that's around 1.8 million people that would be affected. the schools will remain open, that has been a priority of the scottish government. but areas that would be affected, nonessential shops would need to close as would gyms, hairdressers and hospitality as well, apart from takeaway. so a real blow to these businesses as we come after christmas. but also, its the hope that if areas do move into level four, then the closer to christmas we get, then some restrictions might be able to ease. but there is obviously no guarantee of that. nicola sturgeon made the

point yesterday that things are not getting worse in scotland, it's just in some areas, the figures have been stubbornly high and more restrictions are needed to try and knock these figures down. the first minister has also said that she will look at possibly easing the restrictions in some areas, but it's not always going to be a one—way street. alexandra, thanks very much. a campaign group is planning to take legal action against the government over the awarding of contracts for nhs personal protective equipment to a recently formed miami firm. court documents in florida — which have been seen by bbc news — reveal that as part of the contract, £21 million of taxpayers' money was paid in "consulting fees" to a go—between in spain. our special correspondent, lucy manning, reports. shejoins me now, tell us more. she joins me now, tell us more. let us she joins me now, tell us more. let us start at the beginning. it is a jewellery firm in miami, and the owner of that, decided during the

covid crisis that he would get into the ppe business. he had business contacts the ppe business. he had business co nta cts in the ppe business. he had business contacts in china so he told the magazine as well as designing a new jewellery collection, he would source ppe. the british government gave him contracts for ppe for the nhs. we know at least £200 million worth of contracts, but they have not all been published. now, he hired a go—between to help him with this contract, a spanish businessman called gabriel anderson. because the two men have gone to court in america because of a dispute, we have seen the papers and seen what the money is spent on. it makes clear in the papers that this go—between who was supposed to source the places and factories to get the ppe and help the logistics and mr anderson got given $28 million in what is called in the court papers consulting fees. so,

for consulting, he got nearly £21 million. there were supposed to be more contracts, he was supposed to get more money and another $20 million, but there is now a legal dispute whether he helped out or not. the good law project is planning to take the government on the uk courts, asking why so much money was paid out. the original company says at the height of the pandemic when the nhs was in need of ppe, they delivered for britain on time and add value, and they do hire extra staff to help with these big contracts. thank you. as we continue to report on the impact of the second wave, the bbc has been given rare access to the coronavirus ward at a community hospital. in the last month seven people have died with the virus at clacton's nurse—run hospital. staff say they are seeing more complex cases — and are busier now than ever. simon dedman reports. the coronavirus ward at clacton hospital. the bbc has been given exclusive access as it's getting busier.

we have seen a big increase of cases coming in. staff are doing their best to keep it going. it's hard. it's hard on everybody, really. debbie is the clinical lead of this nurse—led hospital. because i'm going into an area where all the patients in there are still covid positive, so we need to ensure that we are protecting ourselves but also protecting the rest of the patients as well. there are 21 patients with covid. hello, sheila. we will keep doing your swabs. so we are doing them every five days and as soon as we can get that negative, we can get you home. all right? care homes are not taking anyone without a negative test result. it means most will be here for at least 1a days. 69—year—old gerald, a former bus driver and carer from harwich, caught covid after having his leg amputated. he's been here for

more than a month. ifeel 0k, ifeel fine. the only thing is i'm waiting for the coronavirus to near enough go, it's near enough gone so i can go home. what can you do? you live on, don't you? it's getting busier here at clacton hospital, three quarters of the covid beds are full with patients aged between 57 and 99. and two more are on their way from colchester. the staff at the moment are quite emotional, we've had quite a few deaths and it's quite hard managing staff that are emotional. a majority of those nurses have had covid. marylou was the first in march and off work for three months. she and some colleagues still feel the effects. now, i still have the shortness of breath when i go up the stairs and i also experience the losing

of hairfor, i think, for a month. staff here think they have not reached the peak yet and expect to have every bed full in a few weeks, but... if people don't take it seriously enough we could end up with this still in the spring. that could mean more covid—19 admissions here in 2021. simon dedman, bbc news, clacton hospital. it's a tough time for small retailers at the moment — all nonessential shops in england were forced to close for the second lockdown. many small shops have been forced to innovate — in order to survive. sarah corker reports. taking on the cobbled streets and narrow lanes of the calder valley, delivery rider beate is hebden bridge's version of amazon and deliveroo combined. this is bertha and she's just great. she's done, i think, about 1,500 miles since we started doing this. so she's worked really hard! beate and her electric bike, bertha, are part of a team of 16 couriers.

this business was set up as demand grew for local deliveries from local shops during lockdown. so what kind of things do you deliver? oh, my goodness. we've delivered everything from vintage clothing down through organic vegetables to, you know, things that need to be kept cool. we've got chiller boxes. today, she's doing the cheese run. the crumbly cheese is the latest retailer to start delivering by bike. when pubs and cafes shut, andrew's wholesale trade disappeared, but he's managed to pick up new customers. it works brilliantly for us. people can access — those that are shielding that are stuck indoors, they can access what we do and then it's delivered to their door without any worries. with non—essential shops in england shut for a second time, the british retail consortium estimates £2 billion worth of sales will be lost every week during november. it's forced independents to try new things.

a group called totally locally has helped 69 retailers here in hebden bridge come together to set up an online shopping site for the town. this lockdown, we are now ready to be online. we weren't before. you know, this is our busiest time of year and we have to maintain some sort of retail presence, even through lockdown. and a set of teeth should do it. and if you live in the calder valley, you can also get these nostalgia—inducing sweets from your childhood delivered to your home, or click and collect them. i think that's the really good thing about small businesses — it's what we do best. it's about adapting. and how important is it that you can keep doing some kind of trade through all of this? vital, because it were long, lockdown,last time. it were a lot of work to do deliveries and it's a lot quieter this time, so it's really good, this idea. for many small retailers, 2020 has been the hardest year they've ever known,

but collaborating, innovating and getting online fast is helping them to survive this second shutdown. sarah corker, bbc news, in hebden bridge. borisjohnson has come underfire for reportedly telling a virtual meeting of conservative mps that devolution had been a "disaster" in scotland. the snp and labour have both criticised the prime minister. but the government say mrjohnson has "always supported devolution". chris mason reports. 1999 and the return of a scottish parliament for the first time in nearly 300 years. devolution in action, the transfer of power away from westminster, described like this by the then first minister, labour's donald dewar. the past is part of us. part of every one of us. and we respect it. but today there is a new voice in the land, the voice of a democratic parliament,

a voice to shake scotland, a voice above all for the future. the conservatives opposed devolution then, they now support it. and yet look at what the prime minister told a group of his mps last night. it has been, he reportedly said, a disaster north of the border, and was tony blair's biggest mistake. this is something about we hear all the time about borisjohnson, oh, he didn't mean to say that, he meant to say something different. and then various ministers are sent out to apologise for him. he did mean that, that is what he thinks about devolution. the scottish national party want another independence referendum like the one in 2014, perhaps as soon as next year, and they'll campaign for one at the scottish parliament elections in may. labour and the conservatives will say the opposite. the scottish conservatives leader says he will speak to the prime minister later about his remarks and adds...

i have said devolution is not the problem. the problem has been the snp scottish government's obsession over over their last 13 and a half years in power with separating scotland from the rest of the united kingdom. we do not think the rather neanderthal views that have been expressed by boris johnson will get anybody any further, except to say it really does expose the underlying thinking and philosophy in downing street. 0pinion polls suggest there is overwhelming support for the scottish parliament for devolution in scotland, and growing support for independence. we've now had 13 opinion polls in a row, dating from the summer of this year, all of which have shown the majority the majority for yes, this is the first time in scottish polling history that we have had that kind of record. like an x—ray on fractured bone, the pandemic and brexit has portrayed in black—and—white the tensions in how the uk is now governed.

the prime minister's comments electrified that debate, as far as scotland's future is now concerned. a debate that will only get louder. our top story this lunchtime: fears that england's scheduled lifting of coronavirus restrictions may not be possible — as new measures are about to be introduced in scotland. and still to come — we have a special investigation in which indian factory workers working to supply some major british supermarkets say they are being routinely exploited. coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes on bbc news, a winning knock from the england captain heather knight. she scores an unbeaten half—century for sydney thunder in the big bash in australia. tesco, sainsbury‘s and marks and spencer say they are reviewing working practices at one of their indian suppliers — after a bbc investigation found evidence workers were being exploited. women at a factory which makes home textiles for the brands said they were forced to work excessive

hours, and weren't even allowed toilet breaks. the bbc also heard claims of poor working conditions from staff at an indian supplier to ralph lauren. rajini vaidya nathan reports. in the world of fashion, they are the forgotten — the women who make our clothes. a million miles from the catwalk, they often live in dire poverty, their monthly salaries, barely enough to feed theirfamilies. but these women produce garments for some of the world's biggest brands. ralph's talent beyond creating beautiful things is his talent to recognise people. ralph lauren's clothes don't come cheap, but the women we spoke to say they are paying a far higher price. workers at one south indian factory which supplies the label earn as little as £2.50 a day, making clothes that sell for hundreds. they say they are forced to work punishing hours and even end up sleeping on the factory floor.

translation: we are made to work continuously, often through the night. sleeping at 3am then waking up by five for another full day of work. 0ur bosses don't care, they are only bothered about production. translation: they ask us to work so late, i can't even feed my children at night. they shouldn't treat us like slaves, they should give us respect. in a statement, ralph lauren said it was deeply concerned by the allegations and will investigate. the factory concerned has denied all allegations. we also talked to female staff at another indian supplier which produces home furnishings for big british brands such as tesco, marks & spencer and sainsbury‘s. speaking from their village, the women told us they are made to work in appalling conditions which would be unthinkable

to employees at the same brands in the uk. translation: we are not given time to drink water or even to use the bathroom. we barely get time to eat lunch. translation: they have increased our workload. we are forced to stay late to finish it or they yell at us and threaten to fire us. we are scared. in statements, all three supermarkets said they were shocked and troubled to hear the reports. sainsbury‘s said it is insisting on a number of actions the supplier must take in orderfor us to continue to work with them. tesco has told us that plan includes prohibiting excessive overtime, strengthening grievance procedures and ensuring workers are fully compensated at the correct rates for the hours they have worked, while marks & spencer said it has a robust plan in place and would be undertaking regular unannounced audits to ensure its implementation. earlier in the year,

there was an outcry after allegations of exploitation emerged in british factories supplying the fashion label boohoo. but activists say the bigger issue lies in asia where most of our clothes are made. exploitation happens around the world for people who make our clothes on a regular basis, but it is out of view and people aren't engaging with who those people are, but brands really have a responsibility to look at what is happening and their supply chains and say, are those people being treated fairly or are they being exploited? as consumers chase cheaper clothes and brands bank bigger profits, it seems the exploitation of the women who make them is one thing that hasn't gone out of fashion. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, india. easyjet has made a loss for the first time in its history. the airline lost nearly £1.3 billion in the year to the end of september. ben thompson is in

west london for us. simon, this year marks easyjet‘s 25th anniversary but it is not the sort of birthday celebration the airline with one. instead it is celebrating with the biggest loss and the first loss in its history. it is not surprising given the plains and the fleet for easyjet was granted for 11 weeks at the height of the uk lockdown. there was some improvement over the summer but of course it is now operating atjust 20% of normal capacity. there are still big questions about things like testing, quarantine and the availability of a vaccine. speaking to me this morning, the chief executive of easyjet chilled me to bow to the prime minister offering the airline's services to transmit and potentially administer a new vaccine —— the chief executive of easyj et told vaccine —— the chief executive of easyjet told me he had spoken to the prime minister.

we have the largest fleet of aircraft in the uk, so those would be available to distribute the vaccine. also we have people, we have up to 4000 people of our fantastic crew that are trained in first aid. they would be able and they would be ready to assist in any way we can in order to get the roll—out of the vaccinations programme done in a swift and an efficient way. for all airlines, that vaccine could bea for all airlines, that vaccine could be a real game changer to get back to some sort of normality, but it is not expected the airline industry can retain —— return to normal until at least 2023. long—haul travel could take longer, business travel might be changed forever, but most of this will rely on our confidence and feeling safe again to travel. the england and wales cricket board has been accused of "institutionalised racism" by two former umpires. they want an independent inquiry into the lack of ethnic minority match officials in the english game.

katie gornall reports. this summer, cricket made a collective statement, joining global attempt to raise awareness about institutional racism in society. not for the first time, the domestic game is being urged to look closer to home and address its own lack of diversity. john holder spent almost 30 years as a professional umpire before his retirement 11 years ago. no non—white umpires have been elevated to the first—class umpires panel since then. he believes the england and wales cricket board are structurally racist. the fact that several non—white umpires have made inquiries about going on the first—class umpires panel and none have progressed, that looks to me more than suspicious. in a statement, the ecb said today's with a professional players do not reflect the diverse ecb we are

determined to be. we want to see more bme representation amongst officials and recognises to have a long way to go to achieve this. holder has beenjoined by former tragic wicketkeeper and umpire ismail dawood in calling for an independent investigation. there are systematic blockages that have been allowed to be put in place and were keptin allowed to be put in place and were kept in place if we are not thoroughly investigating. we are having minimal representation of bame cricket players, coaches, umpires, officials, ceos. the barrier is far greater than non—bame, that is a fact. barrier is far greater than non-bame, that is a fact. the allegations come following a complaint of institutional racism at yorkshire, who had opened their own inquiry. the english cricket board is trying to face an uncomfortable

truth as it tries to increase diversity and proof that the gain is a game for all. it's never the easiest of manouevres, but parking 250 miles above the earth presents particular difficulties. even though there's plenty of space. soft ca ptu re soft capture concerns. and, as you can see, it was no problem for the crew on board the private space craft spacex — as it docked with the international space station. the crew will now spend six months carrying out experiments in space. victoria gill reports. victor here. baby yoda and i wanted to talk to you a little bit about the hatches. just about 2k hours ago, we entered resilience through this side hatch. the end of a 27 hour taxi ride to space. this is a view looking at dragon from station, from the node two forward port that dragon will be docking to today. for the first time, four astronauts to start their mission at the international space station aboard a commercial spacecraft. the entire trip on the spacex dragon capsule, including the millimetre

perfect docking procedure, was fully automated. dragon spacex, capture confirm. it's a milestone in a nearly £2.5 billion deal that nasa has signed with elon musk‘s aerospace company to develop, test and fly an astronaut taxi service. the astronauts on this flight, nasa's michael hopkins, victor glover and shannon walker, and the japanese space agency astronaut, soichi noguchi, will spend six months in space. and in another history—making moment, victor gloverjoined the international space station to become its first african—american crewmember. and here is victor glover. there are now seven people living and working on the station, tripling its capacity to carry out scientific research in microgravity. it was an amazing ride. i can't tell you how excited we were when that rocket lifted off the pad and then the last 27 hours has gone really smooth, actually. uk astronaut tim peake returned from his own