hello, good morning. this is bbc news with the latest headlines. millions of public sector workers are expected to face a pay freeze in next week's spending review. but nhs workers are thought to be protected. you konw how much i value nhs workers and colleagues you know how much i value nhs workers and colleagues right across the nhs, but i am afraid i am going to respect the cabinet confidentiality, as i always do, and instead allow the chancellor of the exchequer to set out the details. it comes as public sector debt has reached a new high with government borrowing of more than £22 billion last month, the highest october level on record.

the prime minister is expected to respond to a report looking into the conduct of the home secretary. ms patel denies the allegations of bullying. england's test and trace system has failed to reach nearly half of the close contacts of people with coronavirus in some of the worst—hit areas, according to bbc analysis. as some businesses in northern ireland re—open today, it's announced that they and all nonessential retail and hospitality will have to close again at the end of this month. more than two million people in parts of scotland face tough tier 4 restrictions from 6pm tonight — including a ban on household mixing indoors, and the closure of nonessential shops. what's your opinion about the change in restrictions? do let us know your thoughts on that — or on any of our other stories. you can send a tweet to me at @annitamcveigh or by using #bbcyourquestions. also today.

75 years ago today, the surviving leaders of nazi germany went on trial at nuremberg in the world's first international war crimes trial. hello, a very good morning to you, and welcome to bbc news. millions of public sector workers could face a pay freeze next year according to government sources. it's thought nhs workers will be exempt but many other key workers like teachers, police officers will face a wage freeze. the chancellor is expected to make the announcement in next week's spending review. the treasury continues to face a spiralling government debt after borrowing climbed to {22.3 billion last month — the highest october borrowing figure since records began. the government has borrowed nearly £215 billion so far this year — £169 billion more than the same time in 2019. more on that in a moment,

but first our economics editor faisal islam reports on the potential pay freeze. millions of public sector workers face a pay freeze at next week's spending review as chancellor rishi sunak makes the case for pay restraint to reflect falls in private—sector earnings during this pandemic—afflicted year. at the start of the spending review process, the chancellor outlined that in the interests of fairness, we must exercise restraint in future public sector pay awards, ensuring parity with the private sector. the treasury has taken an interest in a report on the issue by the centre for policy studies, suggesting a three—year freeze would save £23 billion by 2023, or 15 billion if nhs workers were exempt. it is expected that nhs

workers would be exempt from a freeze to reflect efforts during the pandemic, but four million workers still include many key workers lauded for their service during the pandemic, from the armed forces to police, teachers and civil servants. unions are already planning a campaign against such plans, having already had rejected their efforts for a special pay bonus in the current year for pandemic front line public sector workers. faisal islam, bbc news. nhs workers are expected to be exempt from any freezes in public sector pay. but speaking to bbc breakfast, the health secretary matt hancock refused to answer whether he fought for a pay rise for health workers around the cabinet table. i'm asking you what you are fighting forfor the nhs around the table in a cabinet meeting. have you fought for nhs workers to be exempt from the pay freeze? whether it happens or not, you can't tell me. but have you for it? well, i'm not going to go into internal discussions. but you know how much i value nhs workers.

and colleagues right across the nhs. 0k. but i'm afraid i am going to respect cabinet confidentiality, as i always do, and instead allow the chancellor of the exchequer to set out the details, because then he can set out the broad landscape. because of course, as well as a very tough situation when it comes to health this year with the coronavirus, there is of course an incredibly tough economic situation as well. let's get more from our business presenter sue micah touch. good morning to you. on the day we learn government borrowing hit its highest october level ever last month, we're hearing about millions of public sector workers facing a potential pay freeze next year. we don't know the full details but potentially a very difficult balancing act for the government. yes, absolutely. we

think 4 million people will be affected by this pay freeze. —— sima kotecha. these are police officers, soldiers, teachers, and we understand nhs workers will be exempt and some economists are saying if this pay freeze goes ahead the economy could save £15 billion over three years. we know that the public finances are in a very challenging position at the moment because of the pandemic. and we know that rishi sunak wants parity between the public sector and the private sector. the private sector has really been affected by this pandemic. fewer people working, profits and revenue down, and the letter that rishi sunak wrote in july is what the treasury is telling us july is what the treasury is telling us to look at this morning while reporting the story. that letter said, in the interests of fairness, we must exercise restraint and future public sector pay awards, ensuring that across this year and

the spending review period public sector pay levels retain parity with the private sector. for some this will be difficult to digest because they will be people who feel this public sector workers have been at the forefront of this pandemic. for example, soldiers have been moving coffins of people who have sadly lost their lives. police officers ensuring that people are adhering to the rules. people will feel that this is unfair. but the government has said over and over again, and i've told you over and over again what the government has said, that it doesn't have a money tree, there has got to be some savings somewhere, and it seems that we are going to hear in the spending review on wednesday that public sector wages will be frozen to try and save billions of pounds. sima kotecha, thank you very much for the moment. more from sima kotecha on that story after 9:30am.

the prime minister is expected to set out his response to a report into the conduct of the home secretary priti patel, following allegations of bullying. it's said the report found that she had broken ministerial rules. ms patel has strongly denied any wrongdoing. our political correspondent helen catt is in westminster. good morning to you, helen. we know there is no precedent for a minister that has broken the material code staying in theirjob but here we have a situation where we haven't seen the full report, although it has been out for a while now into priti patel, very close ally of the prime minister. what can we expect from borisjohnson today? prime minister. what can we expect from boris johnson today? what we expect from boris johnson is from boris johnson today? what we expect from borisjohnson is his verdict on all this, so the inquiry has been done, the report has been written and he has seen it and now it's up to him to make a judgment on what should happen. as the prime minister he is the arbiter of the ministerial code, that code of conduct that all ministers are expected to abide by. downing street is refusing to comment. but we have

seen throughout this boris johnson sticking very firmly by priti patel and there is in any sense this morning that that is likely to change. as you said, priti patel has consistently denied any wrongdoing. we also know that borisjohnson has been very resistant to getting rid of ministers who have come under fire over the last year or so and we have seen that happen time and again and there are some reasons why he might be particularly sorry to lose priti patel. his government has come into criticism for a lack of visible senior women and she is the most senior women and she is the most seniorfemale minister senior women and she is the most senior female minister in senior women and she is the most seniorfemale minister in government so seniorfemale minister in government so that would be a difficult loss. she is also very popular within the conservative party itself, there we re conservative party itself, there were lots of mps tweeting in support of her last night and among the everyday members of the conservative party she is very popular. so there isn't likely to be any sort of pressure coming from within the party, significant party coming from within the party for borisjohnson to act on this. but of course, these are very serious allegations,

bullying is a very serious allegation, so it if the report is found to have found bullying, as sources suggest, although they suggest it could have been unintentional, and if borisjohnson is expected keeps priti patel in place, i think he's going to have to explain clearly why he is doing that and this morning labour has already raised concerns. ok, helen, thank you very much for that. dave penman is the general secretary of the fda union — hejoins me now. thank you forjoining us. the fundamental issue that people are having difficulty with here in the first instance is that we actually don't have the full report to see exactly what it says and we are depending on sources saying this and sources are saying depending on sources saying this and sources are saying that. yes, this is typical of how this whole issue has been dealt with. the investigation was launched back in march the prime minister is the sole arbiter of this decision on the investigation and pledged his loyalty in parliament to the home

secretary, so at the beginning of this whole process in summer, it was sat on for a few months and now we are getting links from it to presumably try and justify a decision that has been dragged out of the prime minister because he will hold onto it until a convenient time. at the end of the day this is a process that is supposed to be about investigating the behaviour of about investigating the behaviour of a minister after complaints from civil servants. and instead it has been used for partisan political ends. we saw with dominic cummings and what happened with his travels, testing his eyesight, earlier in the year how the prime minister reacted to that, although he came under intense pressure to sack dominic cummings at that time. as helen catt was reflecting just a second ago, this is a prime minister who isn't keen to cast off people who are close to him. i can understand that.

but ultimately that is not what this is about, this is supposed to be about whether priti patel as the home secretary bullied civil servants. in the prime minister's own words, in the ministerial code, when he became prime minister, he said there must be no bullying and no harassment. what was the point of putting those words front and centre of the ministerial code if he's not going to defend it? are you saying, dave, unless this report is published in full, and a bristly priti patel is denying these claims of wrongdoing, but if that report is not published in full, are you saying that this government cannot claim any moral high ground when it comes to speaking about the issue of bullying. that moral high ground has left this government a long time ago. this is nine months after this investigation was launched. but ultimately he now has to publish it. there is so little credibility in the process, civil servants work hand in glove with ministers day in and day out, thousands of civil

servants. they need to know that if they raise concerns about ministerial behaviour it will be dealt with fairly. is that really the conclusion that civil servants can reach after the handling of this by the prime minister? he must know this, he must know what this looks like. and either hejust doesn't ca re like. and either hejust doesn't care 01’ like. and either hejust doesn't care or he has decided it is more important to keeping the home secretary than it is being fair to civil servants. i think he has no choice now but to publish because of how he has handled this from the beginning. dave, i also want to ask you about the spending review and oui’ you about the spending review and our report today that we understand that although nhs workers will be protected from any pay freeze next year, that other front line workers may be affected by a pay freeze. again, we don't have the full details ahead of next week, but what is your reaction to that and do you have any understanding, given the public borrowing figures, as to a possible approach from the government where it has to introduce and pay freezes for public sector

workers? to govern is to choose, and ultimately public sector workers and voters will look at the government and say what have you chosen to spend money on when the government is facing clearly significant economic pressures? there is a record spending on defence. that is the choice rather than those who have been at the forefront of the pandemic serving the public. if it is £20 million forjewelry designers who are go—betweens in ppe contracts, if that is how the government chooses to spend its money and ignores those people who have been supporting the public during this pandemic, of course an incredible nhs staff at the forefront of this, but so have care workers, so have local authority workers, so have local authority workers, so have civil servants. this pandemic has demonstrated one thing. it is how much the government relies on the entire public service, and so the government need to be clear that the message it is sending to those people that when they stood outside the doorstep as ministers and applauded six months ago and

made all of those warm words, those warm words will ring hollow if six months later they had been chosen to be the ones who have got to pay the price. 0k, general secretary of the fto union, thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news... millions of public sector workers are expected to face a pay freeze in next week's spending review. but nhs workers are thought to be protected. it comes as public sector debt has reached a new high with government borrowing of more than £22 billion last month, the highest october level on record. the prime minister is expected to respond to a report looking into bullying allegations against the home secretary. ms patel denies the allegations. —— fda union. england's nhs test and trace system has failed to reach nearly half of the close contacts of people with coronavirus in some of the worst hit areas. that's according to bbc analysis.

figures cover the six months since the prime minister promised the system would be "world—beating". the government said it was working hard to "refine and improve" the way test and trace works. let's hear now from dr gabriel scally, visiting professor of public health at the university of bristol and a member of independent sage, a group of scientific experts. dr gabriel scally, thank you for your time today as well. as we mentioned, it is six months since borisjohnson mentioned, it is six months since boris johnson memorably use mentioned, it is six months since borisjohnson memorably use that phrase that the uk was going to have a world beating test and trace system. what is your assessment of it since then? it has been such a waste, six months when we should have been getting on top of the virus, and in fact you could take it back a couple of months earlier than that when boris johnson announced they were going to stop all testing and tracing in the community. but what they came up with, the so—called nhs test and trace, and of course, we know it is not really anything to do with the nhs, it is a

private sector consortia trying to provide the service and they are providing it very badly. if we fail to get the fundamentals right of find, test, trace, isolate and support we are fighting this virus with one hand behind our back. and u nfortu nately, with one hand behind our back. and unfortunately, i think a great deal of the problems we are seeing today, the ongoing problems, because of the failure of this really terrible initiative. so if we look over the seven days ending november 11, just over 60% of contacts of positive cases were notified. downing street acknowledged that test and trace needs to improve. do you fundamentally believe that if a higher percentage of contacts of positive cases had been contacted throughout the last six months or so, that we wouldn't be in a situation where we are now with another lockdown in england and also very restrictive measures, fibrex, circuit breaks, call them what you

will come around the four nations? —— fire breaks. will come around the four nations? -- fire breaks. of course, it is so fundamental and it is the biggest failure. every time we have restrictions we get the level of the virus down and every time we end those restrictions, or relax them, the virus takes off again. without an effective test and trace system, there is no other control mechanism. the contrast between the nhs test and trace and what's happening at a local level run by local authorities and public health england teams locally is like chalk and cheese. just on that point if i may interrupt, it was reported on the bbc yesterday, the latest data suggests that 97% of contacts were reached by local contact tracers when they were involved. i have talked to multiple people since the start of this year appealing for them to be involved on a local level

in contact tracing. so why do you think it seems, at least, that that has never really gotten off the ground? because the government has kind of hollowed out the state in england over the last ten years and they don't have the mechanisms in place to run the country. so what do they do when they find a problem like this? they hand the problem over to the private sector without any experience in doing this kind of public health work and they really don't do it. they keep saying that nhs test and trace is going to get better but it's too late. they have had their chance. they had their chance months ago and it should be handed over, in my view, to nhs england to run, a proper organisation with a structure across the country that could run things properly and invest the resources locally. have there been any su ccesses locally. have there been any successes in the test entry system so successes in the test entry system so far in your opinion? you pointed to the biggest success, the success at the local level and dealing with complexity cases at the local level in some of the hardest hit local authority areas. they have done a

greatjob. but we all are being com pletely let greatjob. but we all are being completely let down by this shambolic organisation in the centre, and it is whitehall‘s fault. just one final thought, if i may, given where we are in the four nations of the uk, do you think it is either possible or advisable for a coordination of rules within individual nations, let alone across all four nations around the christmas period? i think that will be very difficult to achieve. some of the speculation about it isn't helping, i think. of the speculation about it isn't helping, ithink. the of the speculation about it isn't helping, i think. the notion of five days, i think it's far too long, and i'm quite sure some of the places who are in real difficulties like northern ireland, for example, is in a very bad place, and scotland putting in new restrictions now, it is really early to be talking about christmas when we are in this state. we can't afford to go into christmas with a large amount of circulating

virus, and that's what we have at the present time. 0k, dr gabriel scally from independent sage, thank you for all of your thoughts on that today. and you can find out more about this bbc investigation into the nhs england test and trace system on bbc.co.uk/news. we just heard wejust heard dr we just heard dr gabriel scally saying northern ireland is in a bad place with coronavirus at the moment. and let's turn to northern ireland now. it is set to face a two—week period of tougher covid—19 lockdown measures from next friday. restrictions were due to start easing today, and some businesses like hairdressers and cafes will briefly be allowed to reopen. but, from 27th november, all nonessential retail and the hospitality sector will have to close again. gerard keenan is the owner of dans bar in belfast — it was shut for six months, and finally reopened three weeks ago. ican i can talk to him now. you have a

few days of trade this week and then you have to close again on the 27th, is that right? no, actually, we were closed for six months and then opened on the 23rd of september until the 16th of october and we have been closed since the 16th of october wallowing a closure of six months previous to that. we were initially told four weeks, it was four weeks and then it was extended by our executive last week and now they have come out to say they will ta ke they have come out to say they will take you to a further two weeks, until the 10th of december. my head is just until the 10th of december. my head isjust spinning listening until the 10th of december. my head is just spinning listening to you describing when you were shut and when you are able to open. i can only begin to imagine how difficult it must be to try to run a business with a situation like that. but, nonetheless, do you understand what's been going on? do you think it just has to what's been going on? do you think itjust has to be this way?

what's been going on? do you think it just has to be this way?” understand the fundamentals behind it. this isn't a pandemic in northern ireland, it is worldwide, it is global, so for the health and safety of everybody i understand the reasons behind it. how we have got to the stage, for me, from my point of view, from our executive, i love being from my country, i love northern ireland and i love everything about it, but the past few weeks here the executive has just been embarrassing for me. i have a wife and six children to support and this is pretty much our only source of income. these guys have just destroyed it for us. they promised us so many packages, so many grants, so many support grants, localised restriction grants, haven't got anything. i've got nothing. i was asking that question, of course you understand the fundamentals behind it, that wasn't really what i meant, but what i meant was do you understand the political reasoning behind the lockdowns? obviously there is the

scientific reasoning, and then there is the political reasoning, the way that this is presented. that was more what i was getting at. but it sounds like it is a very confusing situation for businesses. do you think that you can hold out now until, hopefully, a vaccination programme starts, either towards the end of this year or into the spring when hopefully things will start to get better? look, i don't think so. our business is haemorrhaging money, and asi our business is haemorrhaging money, and as i say, without the support of the grants from the government, i don't think that we will see much into the new year unless a rescue package, hospitality has been pushing this rescue package for the hospitality industry and i think it is our only way for securing our future. i've done a deal with the bank to stop asking for our mortgage payments and repay the interest payments and repay the interest payments and repay the interest payments and for it to re—engage come the start of january,

payments and for it to re—engage come the start ofjanuary, thinking that we would have been allowed to open over the christmas period. and now i have to go back cap in hand to the bank of ireland and beg for some more time. the future is bleak, especially for the hospitality industry, and i don't mean any disrespect for any other industry, but for us it is not looking very good. from a political point of view, that is not even on my radar. i'm 41 years old and still to this day i don't understand politics in our country so i'm focusing on my family and my business and the future of the hospitality industry, which right now is nonexistent for us. which right now is nonexistent for us. we wish you well through what are undoubtedly incredibly tough times, thank you for being so open and describing the situation for you and describing the situation for you and letting our viewers see what it is like there. gerard keenan, the owner of dans bar in belfast, thank

you. millions of people in parts of scotland will face the country's toughest coronavirus restrictions from today. the rules will come into force in 11 council areas across west and central scotland. meanwhile in northern ireland, a new two—week lockdown period starting next week has been announced. so what are the restrictions across the uk? let's give you an overview. from 6pm tonight, more than two million people will be under scottish tier 4 restrictions. this means that household mixing is banned indoors, and only essential shops are open. it says level four on the screen, but cheerful, essentially the same thing. —— tier four. northern ireland was due to gradually ease restrictions from today — and some business will still be able to reopen. but it will now face a new, two—week lockdown period starting next friday which will see all nonessential businesses shut, schools will remain open, though. england remains under national lockdown restrictions

until wednesday 2nd december. that means that nonessential businesses, including hospitality, are closed and household mixing is banned. and in wales, the firebreak restrictions came to an end on 9th november. now, groups of up to four people from different households can meet up in cafes, pubs and restaurants and outdoor public spaces. let's get more details on the changes in scotland coming in today from our correspondent james shaw. this is one of the busiest, most high—value shopping streets in scotland, and there's definitely a sense at the moment of a last—minute rush on. but by six o'clock tonight, almost all of this will be shut down. shoppers i spoke to were anxious about the restrictions which are about to be imposed. to be quite honest with you, i think a lot of people are not going to take any notice of what they've been told to do cos we've had nearly a whole year of this. ijust think it must be really upsetting for the shops, for the small businesses and...

i think this is the time of year when they really need to be making big money — especially when we had the lockdown earlier in the year, they must have been putting all their hens in this basket, so... no, i think it's a shame. it's notjust shops — all hospitality, entertainment venues, gyms and sports centres will close. schools will stay open. and this is a big area all the way from ayr on the west coast to livingston further east, and north to stirling and the countryside around it. this is not a full national lockdown, so travel restrictions will be used to stop people spreading the virus into low—risk areas. it will be illegal to travel into or out of areas under level 3 and level 4 restrictions, and even between council areas under those controls — except for essential purposes, including work, education and caring. nicola sturgeon has promised the restrictions will only be in place until december 11th. james shaw, bbc news, glasgow.

the queen and the duke of edinburgh are celebrating their 73rd wedding anniversary today. and to mark the occasion, buckingham palace has released this photo of them both at windsor castle — looking at a home—made card from their great grandchildren — prince george, princess charlotte and prince louis. the queen was a 21—year—old princess when they married in 19117. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hi there, i had a bit of frost on my windscreen this morning. definitely getting chillier. it certainly is, there was quite a bit of frost across parts of eastern england and scotland, but we were teased by the sunrise, this is what to expect, rather grey and outbreaks of rainfor to expect, rather grey and outbreaks of rain for all of us at some point, eventually turning milder. the mild air is in across the west, this is

where the heaviest rain is at the moment, easing away from northern ireland and the rain will ease off toa ireland and the rain will ease off to a lighter, patchy rain or drizzle in the west as we go into the afternoon but the rain reaches eastern counties in the afternoon but to live temperatures after a frosty start, 7—9 , 13 or 1a in the west. this evening and overnight, across the far north of gales and severe gales will develop, rough seas persistent rain in western scotland, turning wetter in northern ireland later, much of england and well cloudy, patchy rain and drizzle and for some in eastern areas, and mother night tonight than it would have been by day. for the rain or drizzle at times tonight, further rain in the north and west. brightening up in northern england later and for scotland and northern ireland a day of sunshine and showers, cold and windy across the far north. the mildest in the south. see you soon. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines...

millions of public sector workers are expected to face a pay freeze in next week's spending review. but front line nhs workers are thought to be protected. you know how much i value nhs workers and colleagues right across the nhs, but i am afraid i am going to respect cabinet confidentiality, asi to respect cabinet confidentiality, as i always do, and allow the chancellor of the exchequer to set out the details. it comes as public sector debt has reached a new high with government borrowing of more than £22 billion last month, the highest october level on record. the prime minister is expected to respond to a report looking into the conduct of the home secretary. ms patel denies the allegations of bullying. england's test and trace system has failed to reach nearly half of the close contacts of people with coronavirus in some

of the worst—hit areas, according to bbc analysis. as some businesses in northern ireland re—open today, it's announced that they and all non—essential retail and hospitality will have to close again at the end of this month. more than two million people in parts of scotland face tough tier 4 restrictions from six o'clock tonight — including a ban on household mixing indoors, and the closure of non—essential shops. and 75 years ago today, the surviving leaders of nazi germany went on trial at nuremberg in the world's first international war crimes trial. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. good morning. looking forward to the return of the premier league. some of the top premier league clubs are complaining about fixture congestion, as they prepare to return to action tomorrow, just three days after the latest international matches.

several high—profile players will be missing — some due to positive coronavirus cases picked up while away, others came back with injuries. chelsea travel to newcastle for tomorrow's lunchtime game. if you want to look after the players as well as we can, change the time, not a difficult conversation for me to have. the amount of things we changed because of covid and we had to change than because these are incredible times, the answer is, stop talking, act upon it. it's the rapidly growing sport that's a bit like five—a—side football and puts the emphasis on skill, but futsal is facing huge problems due to the pandemic. the england team say they've been treated with a lack of respect by the football association, after being told they had to withdraw from a european qualification play—off. the fa was fined by uefa for pulling england out, and the sport here also has far—reaching problems with massive budget cuts due to covid—19. joe lynskey reports.

this is futsal, football but indoors and at top speed. played with a smaller, heavier ball, designed to build skill. now the game here is under threat. he scores! they say the fa has cut nearly 90% of their funding, which could mean the end for both the national side and the grassroots. we estimate at least 100,000 kids are playing the game every year stuck instead of going around slashing budgets, you need to look at the impact. this is a very inclusive sport played on in inner cities, played by boys and girls. it will have a major impact on them. the england men's team were due to play in north macedonia in a play of this month but the fa pulled them out at short notice because of travel restrictions. the governing body were then fined by uefa. we we re body were then fined by uefa. we were preparing bio sales because the fa took away our preparations —— by

ourselves. the england football team have been playing games and much worse situations with countries suffering from covid. a really difficult time for your sport. there might be people watching and saying, futsal is indoor, less safe in a pandemic, and the footballer station has its own issues to deal with funding ways, namely trying to keep its professional clubs afloat, what would you say to them? -- the football association. with it being indoors, there is a slight risk. but with research into gems, very few infections. and all of the benefits of kids participating in sport —— gyms. these are not temporary cuts. the fa says they followed government guidance including around nonessential travel. english football expects losses of £300 million this year, they say they

have to prioritise. every sport right now is fighting for its future but for futsal in england, right now is fighting for its future but forfutsal in england, the right now is fighting for its future but for futsal in england, the game could soon be over. hard times indeed. rafael nadal is through to the semifinals of tennis‘s atp tourfinals, in london. the 20—time grand slam champion beat greece's stefanos tsitsipas in three sets to book his place in the last four. nadal will face russian daniil medvedev in the final as he bids to win this title for the first time. they finished the season top of the super league and now wigan warriors are in to next week's grand final, after a comfortable win over hull fc. they thrashed the visitors 29—2 with bevan french crossing for their 5th try of the match. they'll face either st helens or catala ns in the grand final next friday. now, if you're frustrated that you're not able to play golf in england this weekend, with courses closed, we have a hole—in—one to cheer you up. it's lexi thompson, in the sunshine in florida at the pelican women's championship.

what's amazing is that the ball takes just two bounces on its 163—yard journey before dropping into the hole. the trouble is, she had four bogeys after this. that was as good as it got. she finished even power. something to raise the spirits of golfers in england at least where the courses are closed. the first minister of wales mark drakeford has said there is evidence the two—week firebreak in wales has been successful in lowering the rate of coronavirus transmission. mr drakeford said the number of people in hospital with covid was stabilising and urged people to act responsibly in the run up to christmas. our chief medical officer issued a statement last night that said the evidence is now good enough to say the firebreak period did succeed, we have had ten consecutive days of numbers coming down in wales, positivity rates coming down in wales. we are beginning to see that feed into a slowdown in the number

of people being admitted to hospital with coronavirus. we think the firebreak period has succeeded. the question is whether it has succeeded enough and whether people in wales are now behaving in wales that allow us are now behaving in wales that allow us to capitalise on the ground we have gained rather than seeing it frittered away. the measures in wales were put in place to cover the school half—term break, with people told to stay at home and pubs, restaurants, hotels and nonessential shops shut. we can now speak to clare boland, manager of fairfields gp surgery in port talbot, and charlotte griffiths, a salon owner in cardiff. a warm welcome to both of you. sclaff, festival, do you and your collea g u es sclaff, festival, do you and your colleagues at the surgery think the firebreak has made a difference? —— clare boland, first of all.” firebreak has made a difference? —— clare boland, first of all. i don't think we have enough evidence as of

yet to actually see that decrease may be that the minister was talking about. in ourarea, may be that the minister was talking about. in our area, we were in local lockdown before the national lockdown. thus, we still perceive we are as busy as we lockdown. thus, we still perceive we are as busy as we were lockdown. thus, we still perceive we are as busy as we were in that period. you have kept all of your services going, you have not been closed at any point? no, we haven't. we certainly made some changes early in february before the first national lockdown. we are working in a different way than we have previously. there is less face to face, but having said that, we are still doing face to face consultations. yeah, really business as...i consultations. yeah, really business as... iwant consultations. yeah, really business as... i want to say usual, in terms of the service offering anyway. usualfor of the service offering anyway. usual for this year is fair to say.

let me pick up with charlotte in cardiff in her hair and beauty salon. i think i am right in saying you only opened this time last year. we did. we opened in november of la st we did. we opened in november of last year. a bit of a turbulent year. a rocky time, rocky first year of business as you try to build up the business and client base, what has business been like since the end of the firebreak? we have been really busy. inundated and we are fully booked until january. really busy. inundated and we are fully booked untiljanuary. the concern is coming as if we are talking about further lockdown is, how we would manage and maintain our business. with more lockdown is pending, when we have gone through two and local lockdown is affecting us two and local lockdown is affecting us for months. would you support another lockdown, firebreak? do you believe if other measures need to be brought in between now and christmas you can continue to operate safely.

100%. we are a really safe industry and we have worked tirelessly to ensure we can see clients in a safe manner. we have not had any positive covid cases from here and sage say no .5% came from our industry. no reason why we cannot we open or stay open and maintain clients —— 0.5%. nervous time to see what happens next. back to you, clare boland. how is the vaccination programme for flu going for you at the moment? going really well. usually there is a little bit of chasing and trying to get people to come in and have the jab, but it has been very successful, everyone wants it this year, good to get the rolling with that quite early. are you making any advance plans for a possible,

hopefully, vaccination, covid vaccination programme? absolutely, we are. we have been in touch with public health about that. we have an idea of how that is going to look. it will be the biggest vaccination programme we have ever delivered. but we are looking at doing that pretty much all through the year next year, starting injanuary pretty much all through the year next year, starting in january and going right the way through. when you say how it might look, that gives us a sense, have you any more detail on the one that might start, potentially? and how you would make that work? we know what the expectations are. it is literally just a case of what vaccine and one that will be made available to us. in terms of contacting patients and organising that programme in—house, we will follow a very similar model that we have with the flu programme. back to you, charlotte. ultimately, we are looking to a vaccine or

vaccines, all being well, to get us out of the situation and hopefully speedily because i know you have said it is really difficult to keep trying to bounce back from one set of measures, another set of measures. for how long do you think it is sustainable for you to go through a period of closure, reopening, closure, reopening? we are well established but i don't think any business is able to maintain this on a long—term basis. we have bounced back twice in 12 months and we have done so successfully. even the strongest of business owners, for all smes, they can only maintain that strength also long. we are very fortunate we have very loyal clients and they continue to support us and they did throughout the lockdowns to keep us going, but there is only so long any business can maintain that. we wish you both won. charlotte in cardiff,

charlotte griffiths, at her hair and beauty salon, clare boland, manager of fairfields gp surgery, thank you both very much. strict coronavirus controls will be imposed across large parts of west and central scotland this evening. we have a look at northern ireland already and wales. let's focus on scotla nd already and wales. let's focus on scotland now. the level 4 restrictions will affect around 2.3 million people. with me is dr gwenetta curry — she is a lecturer in ethnicity and health at the university of edinburgh. i'm also joined by sofie gillespie, who owns three independently run cafes in glasgow city centre. and she has run them for the past eight years. they haven't opened since the original uk lockdown in march this year. sofiejoins us now live from glasgow. let's begin with you, from a business owner in wales to a business owner in wales to a business owner in scotland, how have you managed to effectively sustain the business, even though you haven't been open for so long?

morning, nice to be with you. it has been very challenging for us. we are based in glasgow city centre, 95% of our customers are office workers, we are open monday to friday, 7—3. with all of the top line summary of all of the government guidelines through the whole period have been, stay local, work from home, avoid public transport, which makes our business very challenging. quite early on, we decided in order to mitigate our losses, we would stay closed because the reality is, from speaking to other people opening and closing your business on sometimes extremely short notice, that is not without costs. we just decided that given our? base, which, like i say, office workers, it would not be viable for

us workers, it would not be viable for us to open —— given our customer base. you have gone into business hibernation mode, deep freeze mode, and like everyone else hoping for a vaccination programme to lift us out of this. very much so. we need to see office workers back in glasgow and at the moment office capacity is about a0%. for us, having a high dependency on office workers, we need than to be back in the offices ona need than to be back in the offices on a large scale in orderfor our business to be viable. dr gwenetta curry, thank you forjoining us as well. i am sure you absolutely understand and appreciate the concerns of business owners, but when we look at the clinical approach to the virus, do you think now it is a case of trying to encourage people to sit tight, hold tight, until some vaccines come through? absolutely. i think this is a moment where we have to work

together and understand that, yes, there are people struggling economically throughout this, but there is hope on the horizon, there isa there is hope on the horizon, there is a vaccine that has been seen as viable. the fact some areas have been moved to level 4, that is to help protect the nhs workers. in those areas, hospital rates are well above capacity. to understand how to keep the community going and the nhs wouldn't completely be overwhelmed, we have to implement these restrictions. as we mentioned in the introduction, you are a lecturer in ethnicity and health and we are very well aware of the impact of coronavirus on bame people compared to white people. interesting question i had from a viewer recently and one of our your questions answered session's was, has anything been done with the

learning from the first lockdown in the first stage of the pandemic to protect people more at risk from certain ethnic populations this time around? i wonder what your thoughts are on that. looking at the data from the ons, very little difference from the ons, very little difference from the ons, very little difference from the first wave to the second wave in terms of infection and death rate among the dna in the community. there has not been much change. —— did bame community. more widespread use of ppe made available so that is a positive move. on a policy level, nothing specific you are saying to offer people extra protection? not ona offer people extra protection? not on a policy level. there have been measures put in place to try to deeper understand why these groups have been disproportionately affected, money put in place to fund different research efforts, so that is an improvement. immediately

change the conditions of the people from the black, asian and minority ethnic groups... briefly, it sounds like you are very much buckling down, sofie, hoping for better news than the new year, but in reality, is your approach sustainable for, i don't know, how long into the new year can you sustain the approach you have taken to completely shut down your businesses? very challenging and we are really in a similar boat to the person you interviewed from northern ireland. we need government support. in fact, this lockdown in some ways will be helpful for our business because at the moment we have been existing in a time where we are legally allowed to open but it is not viable to do so, so there has been no government support. whereas going into the tier 4, it looks like there will be government support available to us.

i think government support available to us. ithink in government support available to us. i think in those terms, it has actually been quite good for us. but obviously, we are really looking to the vaccine and things opening up again because, like you say, it is not sustainable to be closed for this period of time. sofie and dr gwenetta curry, thank you for joining us today to give the view from scotland. dr gwenetta curry, lecturer in ethnicity and health at the university of edinburgh, and sofie gillespie who runs three cafes, thank you both very much. we we re cafes, thank you both very much. we were mentioning vaccines there. there's been more encouraging news this week about coronavirus vaccines. on thursday, researchers in oxford said the vaccine they are working on shows promising immune response in older adults. crucial further tests still need to be carried out, but three other vaccines have now already reported preliminary data from phase three trials, with one suggesting 94% of over—65s could be protected from covid—19. so, where are we with vaccines

and who will get one first? with his assessment, here's our health and science correspondent, james gallagher. exciting news, i hope. it is indeed, anita. vaccines are being developed at unprecedented speed — ten years of work has been condensed into ten months. more than 200 vaccines are being researched, with the most advanced starting to produce results. so, how do they work? first, i want to point out something on the coronavirus itself. this is known as the spike protein and that is what most vaccines are training your body to attack. there are broadly four different approaches being used to make coronavirus vaccines. the first kills or inactivates the coronavirus and then injects it into people. this triggers an immune response, but without causing an infection. the second approach takes the spike protein and just injects that into the body. these are tried and trusted

methods of making vaccines, but they are slow to get up and running. a more experimental style of vaccine takes a common cold virus. it is genetically modified to stop it causing an infection, and then to give it the blueprints for making the spike protein from the coronavirus. this is the technique being pioneered by the university of oxford. the final approach is completely new. part of the genetic code of the virus is injected into patients. once inside, it starts making copies of that spike protein, which the body reacts to. this is how pfizer and moderna have developed their potent vaccines. we need all of these techniques because we still do not know which is best. so, who might get the vaccine? this is the draft priority list drawn up by thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation.

right at the top are people living and working in care homes. the vaccination programme will then prioritise people by age, with hospital staff and people with some medical conditions getting jabbed. and this is why. each of these icons represents 1,000 deaths in the first wave of the pandemic. and, look, you canjust see how many deaths were in care homes and in older age groups. the government hopes that by vaccinating all these people, 99% of those at risk of dying from covid will be protected. i will warn you, if you're healthy and under 50, then you're in for a long wait. no decisions have been made on vaccinating the under—50s and they are a tiny proportion of all deaths. we are at the point when the first vaccines could be approved for use soon. then the long and mammoth task

of vaccinating millions of people can begin. james, thank you very much. james gallagher. let me read you out some tweets you have sent about coronavirus. only several thousand people are affected by the virus, i am not quite sure that figure is accurate. let me read out the tweet. why are there millions. to self—isolate, imprison themselves at home? if you have underlying health, the strategy should be you self—isolate while millions carry on and live their lives. we have this from bob, i am staying and live their lives. we have this from bob, iam staying in and live their lives. we have this from bob, i am staying in lockdown matter what the government decides, on the 2nd of december. he says he does not trust people to obey the rules. more now on uk borrowing figures for october, which were the highest on record. the government borrowed £22.3 billion last month — nearly £11 billion more than the same time last year. total government borrowing since the start of the financial year has now climbed to nearly £215 billion. let's get more from our business

presenter, sima kotecha. yes, as you say, the highest borrowing since records began in 1993. why is this? less money coming in through things like taxes, whether government gets most of its revenue. to give you an idea, tax we re revenue. to give you an idea, tax were 39.7 billion last month, down 2.7 billion from a year ago. people not working, not getting income tax, not working, not getting income tax, not buying things, so vat down as well. to talk to me about the repercussions of this on the economy, thank you forjoining me, the investment manager. are you surprised by these figures that have today? certainly the headlines make for quite a sobering read. but what was surprising about the numbers was they were somewhat better than expected. the market and consensus

expectations were for borrowing to be about 30 billion for october and it came in at 22 billion. moreover, the back data for cumulative figure from april to october was also revised down suggesting total borrowing for the first half of the fiscal year october has been 15.9 billion lower than expected, which offers a little bit of a cushion as we go into the second lockdown and its further negative impact on the economy. but we have to pay back the money, don't we? we have heard about public sector workers today perhaps having a freeze on their pay. what else do you expect the government will be doing? surely taxes will be going. i think right now the government is probably trying to walk the tightrope between managing the economic recovery and not having premature tax rises. that will be

the first priority. all of the spending we have seen, two thirds of the increase in deficit has been behind supporting employment and income through the job retention scheme. should it prove successful and we see a normalisation of the economy in 2021, i would expect taxes to increase but not until the economic recovery is well under way, cannot stifle it in the early stages. -- to not stifle it. talking about gdp, we are expecting the economy to shrink in the next three months because of the pandemic, the lockdown, the tighter restrictions put in place prior to the lockdown. how will that impact on what the government announces next week in the spending review? yes, it is interesting at the same time the spending review comes out the office for budget responsibility is also going to update its forecast for the budget deficit and it is quite likely, even with the relatively positive news today on the deficit

being lower than expected for the cumulative months from april to october, that they will because of the new restrictions have to increase the forecast for the deficit further. as you say, the implications for the spending review cannot be understated in that they will be pressure on the government to find ways of narrowing the deficit as much as possible, while not choking off any nascent recovery. thank you, good to see you again. anita, we now face a mammoth date of £2.3 trillion. to give you some context, that is larger than our entire economy. that is quite a statistic to consider. thank you very much, our business presenter. now it's time for a look at the weather. very good morning. after the cold,

frosty but sunny start in eastern areas, cloud on the way. brain spreading to all parts today but we will see things turn milder. milder air in the west with the heaviest of the rain so far, turning lighter already in northern ireland, the odd brighter spells. patchy rain east in the east of england in the afternoon. struggling to raise temperatures after the frosty start. breeze picking up on the north—west of scotla nd breeze picking up on the north—west of scotland and gales or severe gales with rough seas developing, outbreaks of rain in the highlands, later in northern ireland, but plenty of cloud in england and wales and patchy rain and many have a milder night than the day. a weather front tomorrow. and in northern ireland pushing south and to the south, staying cloudy, and to the north, brighter with sunshine and showers, but still severe gales in the north. all the headlines

shortly. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. millions of public sector workers in england are expected to face a pay freeze in next week's spending review. nhs workers are thought to be protected, but unions say the efforts of all public sector workers need to be recognised. of course the incredible nhs staff at the forefront of this, but so have care workers, so have local authority workers, so have civil servants. this pandemic has demonstrated one thing. it's how much the government relies on the entire public service. it comes as public sector debt in the uk has reached a new high with government borrowing of more than £22 billion last month, the highest october level on record.