this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines — the cost of coronavirus — the chancellor paints the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country, with the economy due to contract by 11.4%, the biggest fall in output in over 300 years. today's spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. our health emergency is not yet over. and our economic emergency has only just begun. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it as a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. many key workers, who willingly took on so many key workers, who willingly took on so much responsibility during this crisis are now being forced to tighten their belts. now, not in the

medium term. unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year, leaving 2.6 million people out of work. the chancellor also announces a £4 billion levelling up fund to help local communities, supported by a uk infrastructure bank, based in the north of england. in other news, the duchess of sussex reveals she suffered a miscarriage in july, writing in an article of feeling "an almost unbearable grief". as the covid rules are eased for christmas — people are urged to be sensible. or risk another wave of the virus also coming up — closed and empty — how village halls, once the heart of many communities, are being hit by covid restrictions. good afternoon. the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country has been

laid bare this afternoon. the chancellor has been delivering his spending review and says the coronavirus pandemic has been both a health and an economic emergency. the government says the latest figures make for a sobering read and that now is the time to protect jobs — and livelihoods. rishi sunak warned that government debt and borrowing are at record levels. he said the economy would contract by 11.3% — the largest fall for 300 years. he announced that pay forjust under half of public sector workers in england would be paused — but that nurses, doctors and lower paid workers would still get a rise. mr sunak said the unemployment rate is expected to peak at 7.5% in the second quarter of 2021 — that's 2.6 million people who will be out of work. and he also announced a new levelling up fund and national infrastructure bank to finance local projects. we'll have more on these announcements and analysis from our expert correspondents. 0urfirst report is from our political correspondent jonathan blake.

how bad is it looking, chancellor? he knew, and would soon tell us how bad the country's finances were, how big the bill for the pandemic had become, and how much ministers might get to spend. before the big numbers, and big promises, a reality check on what state the economy is in. chancellor. mr speaker, today's spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. 0ur health emergency is not yet over. and our economic emergency has only just over. and our economic emergency has onlyjust begun. rishi sunak had warned of an economic shock from coronavirus, and said that the government's moves to help absorb it had come at a hefty price. we are prioritising jobs, businesses and public services. the furlough scheme, support for the self—employed, loans, grants, tax

cuts and deferrals, as well as extra funding for schools, councils, the nhs, charities, culture and sport, today's figures confirm that, taken together, we are providing £280 billion to get our country through coronavirus. mr sunak confirmed unemployment was forecast to rise to 2.6 million by the middle of next year, and economic output would fall by the largest amount for centuries. businesses were suffering, the chancellor said, and the public sector had to make sacrifices too. taking account of the pay review body's advice, we will provide a pay rise to over 1 body's advice, we will provide a pay rise to overt million nurses, doctors and others working in the nhs. second, to protectjobs, pay rises and the rest of the public sector will be paused next year. but

third, we will protect those on lower incomes. the 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 will be guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250. among the other announcements, a£4 £250. among the other announcements, a £4 billion fund for community and infrastructure projects, and a cut to overseas aid. labour said the government had its priorities wrong. earlier this year, the chancellor stood on his doorstep and clapped for key workers. today, his government institutes a pay freeze for many of them. this takes a sledgehammer to consumer confidence. firefighters, police officers and teachers will know their spending power is going down, so they will spend less on our small businesses and on our high streets. an argument echoed by the snp. it feels like the

garment is punishing people for working in the public sector, the absolute heroes who saw us through this pandemic have more than earned their pay. a public sector pay freeze takes £4 billion out of the economy, squeezes living standards and is as the economy of investment at the very worst possible time. simply for the economy to survive, the chancellor has had to borrow and spend extraordinary amounts. there is no escape from the grim reality, which rishi sunak confirmed today would get worse before it gets better. jonathan blake, bbc news. let's take a look at the big numbers in today's announcement — our economics correspondent andy verity is here. spending and borrowing, huge number, eye watering numbers. yes, number such as we haven't seen the like of in peace time really. the borrowing numbers and spending them is getting up numbers and spending them is getting up to numbers and spending them is getting uptoa numbers and spending them is getting up to a wartime footing. so we now know the exact spending numbers and we are in a completely different world to where we were back in march. so in march, the forecast was that the total amount that would be spent would be £928 million. and now

the forecast has gone up dramatically from that to 1100 and 64 billion. that is the first time in history it has been that high, above £1 trillion, and as a percentage of the economy, it is higher than it has been since 1946. of course if you are spending more than your income, you have to borrow your difference. it is the same for all of us, the same for the government. in march, they were forecasting they would have to borrow a fairly modest £55 billion a year. and now that has gone up dramatically, because of the cost of the covid measures, which are costing some 280 billion, so instead of being 55 billion, in august it was forecast it would be 372 billion, nearly seven times as much, and now the forecast is that the borrowing will be £394 billion, by far the highest borrowing we have seenin far the highest borrowing we have seen in peace time. and here we are sort of digesting the announcement of government spending on again eye

watering levels, and cuts. yes, that's right. so some spending measures were introduced but they are not very substantial, compared to what we have already spent. so for example, the chancellor rishi sunak has outlined how we are going to spend about £4 billion extra on defence per year, and then if you look at their plan forjobs, you've got another £1.4 billion a year allocated to that. they will start off small but it will grow, and that's the average. but at the same time, they are trying to show, the chancellor is trying to show him get on top of the public finances, he can still do cuts come at the expense as we were hearing there of public sector workers. so when you are looking at spending cuts, you've got a cut in aid come in overseas aid, in that budget, it is no longer going to be not .7% of gdp as was instituted under david cameron's government, and the public sector pay freeze, which was co ntroversially pay freeze, which was controversially introduced, will also cut some of the money that had been planned to be spent on public

services. this is all in the context of the fact that we have the worst economic performance in 2020 than we have had for more than 300 years. the economy shrinking by more than 1196. the economy shrinking by more than 11%. now we all knew that, but what is perhaps new in these announcements is the outlook. so the chancellor has made some key admissions. 0ne chancellor has made some key admissions. one of those is we are not have anything like a v shape, we are not going to get back to where we we re are not going to get back to where we were before the pandemic until two years from now. that's not what i call a two years from now. that's not what icallav two years from now. that's not what i call a v shape. and also that borrowing is not going to get back down to anything like the level it was pre—pandemic during the whole of the next five years. so we will still have £100 billion of borrowing, in other words we will be over spending our income by £100 billion five years from now, even after we have done all of the work of coming back from the pandemic. but i have to say, even that works in some optimistic assumptions about how quickly we bounce back next year. as you know, everything they're depends on the programme of vaccination and how quickly that can

be rolled out. dare i mention brexit? yes, you dare, in fact little notice so far are not really reported so far is the fact that the 0ffice reported so far is the fact that the office for budget responsibility has drawn upa office for budget responsibility has drawn up a scenario for what might happen if there is no deal. we all hope there is going to be a deal pretty soon but if there isn't, they say the permanent scarring for the economy will mean it is not 3% down, as it would be any way from the pandemic five years from now, but another 2% down, so the economy will be 5% smaller than it otherwise would have been, and we won't recover from pre—pandemic levels until 2024. so thatjust underlines the need for a deal to be done. andy verity, thank you. 0ur deputy political editor vicky young is in westminster. they said it was going to be sobering, that is an understatement. it is. rishi sunak the chancellor at the beginning of this pandemic said he would do whatever it takes to get the country through it, and really today we've got the bill. and even though we knew that the economic

impact was going to be huge, it really is truly shocking hearing it laid out like that, and i wasjust looking at it happening in the commons there, and seeing conservative mps, labour mps, and even the younger ones amongst them, this is going to dictate really what is going to happen, in terms of spending, in terms of what governments can do, notjust spending, in terms of what governments can do, not just for the next five years, but for the next decade, and i think that is the point about today, that the impact of this is going to be very far—reaching. everyone hopes that by the middle of next year, with successful vaccines that hopefully the health crisis will be behind us but the economic crisis won't be. and the big question is at what point does the chancellor decide he has to try and claw back some of this money. they got to be very careful, it is a difficult calibration, they don't want to choke off any recovery, even one that will take quite some time. on the other hand, the conservatives

particularly wa nt the other hand, the conservatives particularly want to make sure that that reputation if you like for fiscal prudence, that that carries on, really, so they have to at least lay out a map as to how they are going to get there, and that is going to get there, and that is going to get there, and that is going to involve an awful lot of very painful decisions. yes, fiscal prudence, i mean, they are throwing money at this because they see no other choice. and of course partly they want to protect jobs. we other choice. and of course partly they want to protectjobs. we can see there the predictions for unemployment to rise next year. they wa nt unemployment to rise next year. they want to try and limit the harm of that, as much as they can, in order to get the economy back on its feet. now he did lay out some of those difficult choices today, just a couple of them, talking about a pay freeze for much of the public sector. nhs workers will be exempt from that, the lowest paid in the public sector will be exempt from that, and then a very controversial decision as well which is about overseas aid, that commitment in law that the uk will spend not .7% of

its economic output on overseas aid. he wants to change that and bring down do not .5% and that is going to be very controversial, not just amongst opposition mps, but amongst some conservative mps too, and they will need to change the law probably to do that, so they will be looking out there for the number of rebels who might go against them. the chancellor'sjustification who might go against them. the chancellor's justification for that is to say that we are in the middle ofan is to say that we are in the middle of an economic emergency, but of course these are very, very difficult times, and compared to lots of other countries, even with that reduction, the uk is one of the most generous. he is also at pains to emphasise that it will be temporary. that as soon as he thinks it is possible to increase it again, he will do so, and he is also saying that there are many people in this country who are struggling, struggling very badly, we can all see from the food banks and all the re st of see from the food banks and all the rest of it how many people need help, and there are those of course who feel that that charity should

start at home. it is quite windy where you are and we are having a few problems with the microphone picking up what you are saying but i wa nt to picking up what you are saying but i want to ask you one more thing, you mention it is a moment of national crisis, it is an emergency, and yet there are those that are going to try to make political gain out of this, already criticism of rishi sunak‘s this, already criticism of rishi suna k‘s statement. i'm just wondering what the mood is there. suna k‘s statement. i'm just wondering what the mood is therelj mean, wondering what the mood is there.” mean, it is difficult for labour in all of this, because they have to stand up when a government isjust talking about spending £280 billion on the covid pandemic. you can't really accuse them of being stingy, so really accuse them of being stingy, soi really accuse them of being stingy, so i think what's interesting here is that mood we had at the beginning of the pandemic, where of course there was the shock of it happening in the country, everyone felt like that, including opposition mps, and there was very much a sense of working together and everyone being on the same side. now gradually that has changed, and what labour are focusing on is the government's competence, or incompetence as they would have it, and you heard from sir keirstarmerthe would have it, and you heard from sir keir starmerthe labour would have it, and you heard from sir keir starmer the labour leader today saying that actually there has

beena today saying that actually there has been a problem, an issue with government contracts, trying to suggest thatjobs government contracts, trying to suggest that jobs and contracts and money for those close to the conservative party and that there is not a fairness in all of this. so thatis not a fairness in all of this. so that is really the line of attack from labour in the coming months, i think. thank you very much, vicki young. sorry about the same problems we had listened to her but let's pick up on the last point. labour mp abena 0ppong—asare is a shadow treasury minister, shejoins me now. ifi if i could just pick up on that point, we are in a moment of national emergency. what is it you think rishi sunak has got wrong today? well, thank you for having me speak on this channel. this spending review was a moment for the chancellor to take responsible choices our country needs. it was also an opportunity to protect our key workers, secure the economy and recover jobs key workers, secure the economy and recoverjobs in key workers, secure the economy and recover jobs in every key workers, secure the economy and recoverjobs in every part of our country. we have seen during this crisis so many people take

responsibility, such as front line nhs staff who have been working around the clock to keep us safe quarters, keeping our hospital is functioning, including teachers and teaching assistants, who have been working so that key workers could too. i have to say that the chancellor has stood on his doorstep and he has clapped for key workers, and he has clapped for key workers, and today the government institutes and today the government institutes a pay freeze for many of these workers. what would you do? what would we do? labour has been consistent in calling for further action, in terms of providing more support to people, in terms of recovering jobs, retraining workers and rebuilding businesses. 0ne recovering jobs, retraining workers and rebuilding businesses. one of the things that labour has been calling for is the 30 billion of capital spending, which will be accelerated into the next 18 months, which will be focusing on green initiatives, supporting 400 jobs and bringing us in line with countries

such as france and germany. i have seenin such as france and germany. i have seen in my constituency how people have been massively impacted and have been massively impacted and have been massively impacted and have been feeling very much not supported by this government. 0ne have been feeling very much not supported by this government. one of the things labour will be calling for is the test trace and isolate. this is something that really needs to be fixed by this government, which will help us ensure that the economy gets moving as fast as possible. but that's part of the crisis, obviously, but what we have just heard are eye watering figures, 11.396 just heard are eye watering figures, 11.3% drop, the largest fall in this economy for 300 years. with great respect, test and trace is a part of the problem, yes, but we havejust heard something that the whole country needs to take note of, and you are picking away at a small bit of it, but what choice does a chancellor have but to try and get us chancellor have but to try and get us through this in the way that he has announced today? well, freezing the pay of front line workers is not

going to help us get back on track. we do need to invest in our economy, we need to provide support to the lowest, those key workers that are providing support on the front line services. the choices that this government has made so far has been irresponsible. we haven't learned nothing, and it's making thejob crisis a lot worse. people in support right now. hang on, public sector workers have jobs. we support right now. hang on, public sector workers havejobs. we are looking at a possible and implement rate of 2.96 million people by next year. many public sector workers themselves may feel, well, at least we got work. try telling that to my constituents who i have been speaking to just recently about this, they are really suffering, i have a business in my constituency that has been in action for the last 40 yea rs that has been in action for the last 40 years that has had to make their staff redundant. this does not go further enough to serve bright —— to provide support for those people that needed urgently. how much would

that needed urgently. how much would that cost, to do what you want to do? well, one of the things that i've mentioned is we need to bring forward 30 billion capital spending in the next 18 months, and that will 400 newjobs, in the next 18 months, and that will 400 new jobs, and in the next 18 months, and that will 400 newjobs, and it's really important that we start investing right now to help people get back on track, and one of the things that labour is calling for is an emergency training programme, which should start right now. so many people do not have jobs right now. i have constituents who are essentially struggling, they are living on the lifeline, theirjobs have gone, we need to provide support so they can retrain and not wait until next april, because what are we going to do about those people that are suffering right now? many of those people have already been out of work and are out of work right now. there needs to be some urgency in this. and how would you raise that £30 billion? so one of the things we are asking for is for the things we are asking for is for the government to essentially look

into this and provide support. it is really important that we start investing. sorry, sorry to interrupt but i'm asking how you would pay, you have raised the figure, 30 billion, how would you pay for it? what we need to do is we need to start acting to recoverjobs right now, we need to retrain and rebuild businesses, we really need to have a serious conversation about providing support to individuals that need it right now. what we are seeing is there has been lack of clarity, there has been lack of clarity, there has been chop and changing, particularly with the furlough scheme, which was due to end a few months ago, and then has been reopened again. but the furlough scheme is one thing. 0n the whole most people say it has been a success , most people say it has been a success, to something they credit the chancellor with, and it hasn't actually stopped, it has been extended. well, it has been extended until march, but we need to be thinking about, what the comic needs to be thinking about is what they are going to be doing, and we will be coming out of lockdown quite

soon. what are the plans in terms of support? we didn't hear any of that in the chancellor's announcement today. we also didn't hear anything about what's going to be happening with brexit, in terms of the fact of what we are doing, in terms of making sure that this country basically remains one of the leading countries in providing support. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. you are watching bbc news. the duchess of sussex has revealed she suffered a miscarriage injuly. writing in the new york times, meghan markle said it had happened while she was caring for her son, archie — adding that the loss of a child was an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. they are both thought to have been keen to have another child, after their son archie's birth in may of last year. earlier this year at their home in california, meghan was pregnant. but then, as she has described in an article in the new york times, one morning injuly she felt a sudden cramp.

she describes the tears she and harry both shed and goes on, it is worth pointing out that the miscarriage itself happened injuly at a time where, you know, they were not out of the headlines. you know, royal biographies being written about them. they could not escape the spotlight. and now we know, actually, the pain, as meghan says, the unbearable grief that, as a couple, they were going through. meghan is not the first member of the royal family to have a miscarriage. but she is the first to write about it. and she places it in the context of a year when so many have faced loss. it has been a year, she says, which has brought so many of us to our breaking points, whether through bereavement or the sharp divisions within societies. and she recommends a simple step,

inspired, she says, by the interview she did in southern africa a year ago, when she was asked whether she was ok. thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if i'm 0k. but it's a very real thing to be going through behind—the—scenes. that question, "are you 0k", is one from which she says we can all learn. as much as we may disagree, and as physically distanced us we may be at the moment, the duchess suggests that we are in fact more connected than ever because of what we have collectively endured in recent months. it is a powerful appeal, hiding the couple's personal sadness. nicholas witchell, bbc news. people across the uk are making plans for christmas after the leaders of all four nations agreed yesterday to relax coronavirus restrictions over the festive period, to allow people to spend time with loved ones. last night it was confirmed that across the uk.

that across the uk, up to three households will be able to mix in each other‘s homes. the new rules coverjust five days from the 23rd to the 27th of december — and that's raised concerns over people's travel arrangements. scientists and doctors have expressed concern that the easing of restrictions could lead to a spike in cases and eventual deaths. catherine burns reports. this year of separation is almost coming to a close. it is exactly a month until december 25, but instead of a very merry christmas, we are being told to have a modest, limited and cautious time. but there will be a relaxation of the rules. from the 23rd of december to the 27th of december you will be able to form a christmas bubble with up to two other households. from the 23rd of december to the 27th of december you will be able to form a christmas bubble with up to two other households. so for the five days of christmas, up to seven if you are travelling from the 23rd of december to the 27th of december you will be so for the five days of christmas,

up to seven if you are travelling to orfrom northern ireland, most families will be able to celebrate together, but not exactly as normal. but vulnerable people might not want to take the risk. elaine cares for her husband michael, he has dementia, cancer, and diabetes. i can understand people wanting to mix, of course they want to see their families. we do, i yearn to see my children. but, you know, if it is going to make michael poorly or even me because i am vulnerable too, then we have to go with the flow and do as we are told. coronavirus is still out there. yesterday, another 608 deaths were recorded, people who died within a month of testing positive for covid. effectively, what this would be doing is throwing fuel on the covid fire. i think it will definitely lead to increased transmission, it's likely to lead to a third wave of infection. and this is happening just as we are going into what is traditionally the busiest time of the year for the nhs, even without a pandemic. anything that happens on top of that would be an additional worry. so certainly a double whammy,

in terms of covid and normal health pressure, and potentially a triple whammy, if we see any effects of the relaxation of restrictions. and so the message isjust because we can do something, doesn't mean that we should. please think carefully, use it responsibly and then we will all of us not face the consequences in the new year that could overwhelm our nhs. that could overwhelm our nhs, and lead to real consequences in the lives of people who matter the most to you. when a number of people get together, there is always a risk that someone could be infected and not know it. the bigger the group, the bigger the risk. especially if they come from different households. the best thing you can have is this, fresh air, meeting outside, which isn't always easy in december. inside, maybe keep a window open. other things you can do to cut your risk, try to keep your distance. don't go around sharing plates of nibbles, and keep visits short. i am living a very isolated life as it is. i'm only meeting sort of half

a dozen people week in, week out. so i feel the risk is very low for me. a lot of people are not seeing it first hand, are they? so you know, if you are not seeing or hearing of anyone that has caught it or suffered from it, maybe you are thinking is it as bad as everyone makes out, you know? my mum who is in her 80s, that is my concern. but at the same time the sort of mental health issue i think is really important as well. there's no point in doing this if suddenly the cases go back up again. all that sacrifice, all the lockdown would be in vain. you will still be able to meet people outside your bubble, but sticking to the rules of the tier in your area is in. of the tier your area is in. as for these christmas bubbles, they will burst before we ring in 2021. the question is, what kind of covid hangover we will have to deal with in january? catherine burns, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello there. frost and fog are set to feature in our forecast for the next few days.

some pretty chilly weather on the way, in fact it's going to be a cold night for most of us tonight. the remnants of a weather front providing cloud and some spots of rain to the far south—east of england and the channel islands. one or two showers elsewhere but largely some clear skies, allowing temperatures to drop down to around freezing — a touch below freezing in one or two places. could be the odd fog patch around tomorrow morning as well. some of that fog could be quite slow to clear but then for most we're going to see some spells of sunshine. bit of patchy cloud, one or two very isolated showers and still this band of cloud and some patchy rain down towards the south east. temperatures though, they will struggle, five, six, seven, 8 degrees in many places, perhaps double digits for south wales and south—west england. then through thursday night into friday, fog becoming quite widespread across england and wales, south—east scotland. a bit of patchy rain to north west scotland and northern ireland. some of that fog on friday morning could be slow to clear and it's going to be one of the coldest days we've had for quite some time.

hello this is bbc news, with simon mccoy. the headlines: the chancellor paints the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country with the economy due to contract by 11.4% — the biggest fall in output in over 300 years. today's spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. 0ur health emergency is not yet over and our economic emergency has only just begun. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it as a "sledgehammer blow" for consumer confidence. many key workers who willingly took on so much responsibility during this crisis are now being forced to tighten their belts.

now, not in the medium term, to which the chancellor refers, now. unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year — leaving 2.6 million people out of work. richard hughes is outlining the budget responsibility. this is my first forecast since taking over last month. i would like to thank my predecessor for all he did to lead this establishment over the last decade. we have a problem with the line from

the office for budget responsibility. saying support for public services, household costs £280 billion this year and that pushes the deficit to £394 billion. eye watering figures and we will keep an eye on that and once we have re—established contact with richard hughes. mean line, we go to the sport with 0lly foster. good afternoon. the chief executive of the professional footballers association gordon taylor will leave the role at the end of the season. he has been in the position since 1981. let's get more on this from our football reporter simon stone. good afternoon, he had been under considerable pressure from the past couple of years from inside and outside the organisation. he already stated he was going to leave after a review? that's right, there has been a lot of criticism over the kind of

transparency of the pfa for a number of years now, and this all kind of came toa of years now, and this all kind of came to a head last year and there was a review undertaken and gordon taylor said he would step aside when that review was complete. the review was concluded in july, that review was complete. the review was concluded injuly, the recommendations have now been transmitted to the pfa. gordon taylor has outlined these recommendations in a letter to members, but within that he has said he will leave at the end of the season. this comes at a time when yet again, the pfa is under huge scrutiny for what some would see a lack of action over a growing dementia crisis involving ex—players. but it brings an end to an era which gordon taylor has been

in that position for almost four decades. he has transformed the pfa, but there is no doubt he will leave with the organisation under a huge cloud. is the timing of this coincidental, simon? we had a scathing statement from nobby stiles' sonjohn, scathing statement from nobby stiles' son john, calling scathing statement from nobby stiles' sonjohn, calling on taylor to resign and the whole leadership at the pfa, saying the union has not addressed some of the dementia issues and looking after the welfare of former players, saying they are unfit for purpose? well, taylor would argue he is only acting within the parameters of what he said he was going to do. he said he was going to stand aside when the review was complete, and that is what he will do. i guess when you've got the departure of someone who has been in charge of an organisation for such a

long period of time, there is bound to be some introspection and there is bound to be a lot of discussion over who will take on that role and what the management structure of that organisation is going to be like. as you say, there is huge scrutiny, like never before almost, in the workings of the pfa and what they are doing. people within the pfa argue they are doing all they can in terms of dementia and other issues to help members from the outside it doesn't appear to be enough. now, within the next five or six months, we are going to get huge change within the organisation and it will be very, very interesting to see which way that change will go. simon stone, thank you very much indeed, with the details of gordon taylor's departure at the end of the

season as chief executive of the pfa after 40 yea rs in season as chief executive of the pfa after 40 years in the role. the australian open is likely to be delayed by at least a week. the first tennis grand slam of the year is due to start on the 18th january, but with players unable to enter the state of victoria until the first of the month, and then having to quarantine for two weeks — that would affect warm up events and the players‘ ability to train and prepare. andy murray is going to take part and can see the benefits of shifting the tournament to later in the month. a lot of the players are coming from, you know, very cold climates just now. to then go and ask, you know, you know, players to go and play in 35, 36 degree heat with no match preparation, itjust increases the risk of, you know, injuries, possibly the quality of tennis probably not going to be that high, so, yeah, it wouldn't be a deal breakerfor me, it makes it a little bit tougher. that's all the sport for now.

i will be back with more in the next hour. more now on the spending review. the chancellor, rishi sunak, has said he expects a million more people to be unemployed by the middle of next year. 1.6 million people are currently out of work in the uk. mr sunak confirmed that public sector workers, excluding some nhs staff, will have their pay frozen to help repay more than £390 billion the government has borrowed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. we're nowjoined by dr andrew sentance, former member of the monetary policy committee at bank of england, now senior adviser at cambridge econometrics. it is not just it is notjust my mouth in trouble, my eyes are watering and that is because of the figures, are yours? certainly we have not seen borrowing figures of this sort in peace time before. nearly £400 billion, 20%,

one fifth of the amount the economy produces each year. and the economy is expected to contract by about “.5%. is expected to contract by about 11.5%. also, it is the biggest decline we have recorded, possibly for 300 years so the figures we have are particularly reliable. these are dramatic figures for the short—term, but the most interesting aspects of the statements are more about what will happen next year and the years after. and borrowing will come down to around £100 billion by the mid-2020 to around £100 billion by the mid—2020 is. but it is still higher than the sustainable level, so that is pointing to the that some further public spending restraint or tax rises will be needed after the economy has started growing again. the message from the chancellor was, if you are going to pay that money back, you have got to get the economy going again? yes, that will

be the chancellor's priority in this statement. he is still continuing to spend quite a healthy level. next year, borrowing will be £164 billion, which is around about 8% of gdp. not far off the peak resort for borrowing in the global financial crisis. some of the measures he took to save money, like the public sector pay freeze and the cut in the overseas aid budget, they will not have very much impact. my estimates, about £6 billion in borrowing next year. it does look a bit like tokenistic penny—pinching. it is not going to have very much impact on the broad outlook for public finances. 4 billion to you is penny—pinching but to me it seems like a lot of money but i'm guessing that interest rates are so low does knew how you see debt at this level?

there are two things that change the way review debt. first of all, even though the numbers look very shocking, the average debt level of gdp, in relation to gdp that the uk has experienced over the last 300 yea rs has has experienced over the last 300 years has been about 100% of gdp. we will not be far away from that average, but also we can borrow at very low rates at the moment. we cannot guarantee those low borrowing rates will continue into the future. so there is a medium to longer term challenge of getting the deficit down and getting public debt under control in a time horizon that protects us against a possible future rise in interest rates. a conservative manifesto conservative pledge on aid appears to be broken. does that raise the spectre of the pledges, national insurance, income tax that they will have to go to get us tax that they will have to go to get us out of this crisis? given the amount of turmoil and the big shocks we have seen over the last year, or

just under a year, you do feel that what was written in the manifesto was written in a very different economic climate. the famous economist, john maynard kane said, when the facts change, change my mind. the facts have changed dramatically. the government will have to exercise more flexibility on the tax side than manifesto suggested. it is really good to talk to you, thank you for your time this afternoon. thank you. i'm nowjoined by christine jardine, treasury spokesperson for the liberal democrats. cani can i pick up on the point about the size, the scale of the problem we face at the moment? yes, the problem we face is enormous and it was reflected in what the chancellor said today, but there were huge things missing. no acknowledgement of the fact that under this government our economy is the worst

in the g7 and we need a strategy, much more of a strategy than we are seen to protect jobs much more of a strategy than we are seen to protectjobs and livelihoods and to build a green, economic recovery. the chancellor seems almost to hide behind the figures. it is not looking at what the real impact of this is on people. you think about people in the public sector who have kept us going through this crisis, yes, doctors and nurses will be rewarded. the binmen, the police officers, all of that and now to hit them with a pay freeze seems extraordinarily unfair. i think there are areas the chancellor should have everything. what about overseas aid? that is a very bitter pill to swallow. he was a private members bill by michael moore, liberal democrat mp, during the coalition and as andrew mitchell pointed out, it is vital to our

overseas relationships to helping those overseas who depend on british aid to improve their lives and their communities. it is a vital part of what we do. it is notjust money we somehow give away and get nothing for. it is a vital part of our foreign policy and foreign relationships and overseas development. it helps us in this country to be able to help overseas development. that is going to be a very bitter pill for a lot of people to swallow and the fact andrew mitchell was so outspoken and the government's own back benches are not happy. at some point, this is going to be need to pay for, how would you do it? at the moment we should be thinking about investing to get us out of this. as you mentioned earlier, the interest rate at the moment is historically low.

but we should be investing in infrastructure, investing in a green, economic recovery. spells 150 billion over transport, renewable energy, that is what we need to be looking at, building the economy, incentivising businesses to come to this country. if we get the economy going and we have growth again, then we will be able to pay it. if we don't and the chancellor doesn't invest more, then he makes it more difficult. when you as liberal democrat were in government as part of the government, you drove for austerity. that was ten years ago. we have a huge problem now, this requires a solution for this problem and this time and the solution has to be investing. 0ne and this time and the solution has to be investing. one of the things about the pay freeze is that if he

frees people's wagers, their spending power goes down and you ta ke spending power goes down and you take money out of the economy and it works against you. the chancellor needs to be much more adventurous, he needs to be more inventive and getting money into the economy. we have countless families in this country facing serious financial hardship and we need to protect them and we need to do it by investing. 0ne and we need to do it by investing. one of the things is the furlough scheme, keep it going, not until march but untiljune when we start coming out of this. we will not be out of it by march. these are the things we feel have to be done, some covid economic measures that need to be done to help people in the short to medium term. thank you so much for your time this afternoon. the government has pledged to level—up the economy spreading more resources to the north. 0ur correspondent fiona trott has reaction from newcastle. what matters most to people here is

the announcement about the £3 billion restartjob creation scheme. this is a regent with the highest unemployment rate in the uk, some of the highest child poverty rates in the highest child poverty rates in the country here, too. remember in september, tougher measures were introduced here in newcastle, it was hit hard by the pandemic and it hit the hospitality sector very hard. the city relies on that sector for £340 million a year. one month after those tougher measures were introduced, the sector lost £20 million. a lot of people lost their jobs. for those in work on a level wage, we are hearing the living wage is increasing by just wage, we are hearing the living wage is increasing byjust over 2% to £8 91 per hour. a lot of people in newcastle welcome back, they say it could be higher. remember last month when a group of around 50 conservative mps wrote to the prime minister saying they were concerned that the cost of covid would be paid for by a downgrading of the

levelling up agenda and that northern constituencies would suffer the brunt of that. today, the chancellor announced a levelling up a fund of £4 billion available to any area for bypasses, libraries, museums, railway stations, projects like that. we also heard that a new uk infrastructure bank has been announced and it will be headquartered here in the north of england which will finance infrastructure projects from next spring. a word of warning though from political leaders here in the north, including the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham. he had said that big projects years down the line don't help people now, whose lives have been put on hold. he said we don't want the north of england returning to another 1980s style of a prolonged, economic downturn. that was fiona trott in

newcastle. an inadequate stockpile of personal protective equipment in england before the pandemic and a surge in price because of a boom in global demand has cost the taxpayer around £10 billion. that's the findings of a report by the public spending watchdog, the national audit office. it says there was a particular shortage of gloves and aprons, and two orders for 75 million face masks could not be used as they did not pass current safety standards. the government said the nao's report recognised that nhs providers had been able to get what they needed in time. as nurses and doctors risked their lives to save others, they should have been protected. but a shortage of personal protective equipment left many feeling vulnerable. the report from the spending watchdog found in the early months of the pandemic, not enough ppe, huge increases in prices, and orders that failed to meet specifications. at the start of the pandemic, the government hadn't built

the ppe stockpile up enough. there were only nine days' worth of goggles, seven days' worth of protective aprons, and not enough gowns to even last a day. so they were forced to buy as prices rocketed. the cost of body bags and gowns went up by more than 1000%. gloves went up by 500%. more than £12 billion was spent buying ppe. if it had been bought at the prices a year before, £10 billion could have been saved. your masks and your two boxes... dan archer runs an in—home care company in sheffield. the report highlights how care companies came close to running out of ppe. we support vulnerably placed adults in the community. i'm not a procurement expert, but we were finding ourselves in a position, with a little bit of work, a little bit of desk research, where we were able to find these facemasks for better value than we were being offered by government sanctioned providers. in august, the bbc revealed 150 million facemasks with ear loops,

supplied by ayanda capital, couldn't be used in the nhs. and similar masks from pestfix also didn't meet the safety specifications. pestfix agreed to supply other ppe instead. ayanda said it had met the requirements at the time. the report says there could be millions of other items of ppe, totalling hundreds of millions of pounds, that are potentially unsuitable. we're suggesting that there is a comprehensive lessons learned exercise that should be undertaken, that should involve local stakeholders, staff, representatives and care providers, to look at how we prepare for future emergency pandemics, orjust emergencies generally. the department of health said during this unprecedented pandemic, all the nhs providers audited were always able to get what they needed in time, thanks to the herculean effort of government, nhs, armed forces, civil servants and industry.

at the start of the pandemic, huge effort was made, but prices were high and supplies were low. lucy manning, bbc news. we have found out how communities have been affected by the closure of their community halls. brenda still comes to check every day, but it is not the same. it is cold, it is entry. it is sad, itjust needs people. it needs people in here. for the first time in 100

years maiden bradley village hall is silent. covid means nojumble sales, no exercise classes, and without a shop or pub right now, the village hall was everything. it was all so different a year ago, when bbc countryfile filmed here. the hall fizzing with festive activity. and at its heart, edna. i used to love the coffee mornings and of course all of the bingo and things that went on. widowed and 92, she says the community is going to need this place more than ever after covid. how much do you miss it right now? when you're on your own you like to get out and meet people, like, you know, but if we didn't have the village hall i think the village would be dead. many halls across the uk are now worried about their future. although some grants have been available this year, it's not clear what help there will be if the pandemic continues. and empty halls mean

empty bank accounts. all their income comes from hiring the space and fundraising. if they're not hiring out space and not fundraising, then they don't have any funding coming in, and neither are they building up the reserves or able to put money aside for future repairs and maintenance. you can see it is all moving. just down the road is horningsham village hall. ken normally deals with bookings, now he is dealing with cracks. the guttering, the roof leaks, the building itself is still deteriorating. it's like the forth bridge. all these things needs to be addressed, and they need to be addressed almost immediately, as far as, you know, certainly leaks in the roof are concerned. back in maiden bradley they have opened a shop inside the hall so villagers can buy essentials during lockdown. and they think this could be the future. village halls diversifying.

9.20 please, madame. ..to bring them back to life and bring in money. bye. jon kay, bbc news, wiltshire. the duchess of sussex has described experiencing an ‘almost unbearable grief‘ after losing her second child in a miscarriage. in an article in the new york times, meghan wrote how she lost her unborn baby injuly in california — a moment that left husband harry holding the ‘shattered pieces‘ of her heart. a source close to the duchess confirmed to the bbc that the duchess is currently in good health. with me now is liverpool comedian sophie mccartney, whose tired ‘n tested channel documents her life as a parent. in august, she broke with her usual tone to post a video titled miscourage about having a miscarriage, and having to go through the process in hospital on her own because of the pandemic. idid,i i did, i broke away from my normal

comedy content to share something that had been happening in my life and obviously very similar to what has happened to meghan. and the reason i did it was because i felt that not enough people actually spoke about miscarriage. i felt it was very much a taboo in society and there was a lot of unnecessary shame around the topic. i felt that by speaking out it would break down some of those walls. i think that is probably why meghan has also done it. it was something she did need to do, we didn‘t know she was pregnant andi do, we didn‘t know she was pregnant and i think as a result of her speaking so publicly about it, i think it will have a very positive effect on a lot of women he will resonate very strongly with her story, as they did with mine. do you think there is a taboo or do people think there is a taboo or do people think it is such a private thing that if people don‘t want to talk about it, they really don‘t have to? i think there is a taboo, i think there is. i think society, on a

whole, we don‘t really know how to deal with the topic. it is also something, i understand it is not a particularly pleasant topic to talk about, it makes people feel uncomfortable, especially if they have never been through it before. but it becomes part of the cycle and then people feel they cannot talk about it because it makes other people feel uncomfortable. they will think, nobody wants to know i had a baby that died, or i miscarried. so we don‘t talk about it, but i think what happens when we do speak out is that it makes other people understand the grief and then i think, on a whole, it becomes more a cce pta ble think, on a whole, it becomes more acceptable to talk about it. and if we don‘t talk about it, because it isa we don‘t talk about it, because it is a very real grief to people who have gone through it, especially with early miscarriage there is a tendency to sweep it under the carpet, especially if it was before 12 weeks. people say, you can get pregnant again, it was very early. there is a lot of that mentality, but for the people it has happened

to, for the woman, for the couple, it isa to, for the woman, for the couple, it is a big trauma and it is not addressed properly and if it is not spoken about properly, you can ma nifest spoken about properly, you can manifest into varying anxieties and problems moving forward. i think in general, by speaking about it i know from my own perspective it was a very cathartic event to be able to get that weight lifted off my shoulders and say, do you know what? it happened to me, it was awful but i‘m moving forward and the feedback i got from a lot of people who watch the video, it was a very useful thing to see, so they could also have the strength to then share their stories and also move forward. it isa their stories and also move forward. it is a very powerful article and i wonder what sort of reaction you got to yours? people do find it a very uncomfortable thing to talk about. they do, and it is understandable. asi they do, and it is understandable. as i said, it is not a topic you would expect in an everyday conversation with somebody you met at the supermarket. how are you? i

am 0k, at the supermarket. how are you? i am ok, but i havejust had a miscarriage. it is an uncomfortable situation. i found that by speaking about it, i was inundated by thousands of comments and messages by people saying the exact same scenarios had happened to them. i got to 11 weeks when i miscarried and my body hadn‘t realised that was what was happening and it was carrying on the pregnancy even though there was no heartbeat. i had never heard about that before, again because it is something not spoken about. so i was surprised by the m essa g es about. so i was surprised by the messages from a lot of women saying they had the same thing happened to them. i had letters from partners of them. i had letters from partners of the women he went through miscarriage and they were grateful to have another person speak about it so they can see it from that perspective and then they could speak to their partner about it. i was stopped in a park by a gentleman who tapped me on the shoulder and said, isaw who tapped me on the shoulder and said, i saw your video and i wanted to say thank you for talking about

it. it is something we feel as a couple we cannot talk about, and it happened to us. we were stood in the park with our dogs, talking very openly about miscarriage. he was a com plete openly about miscarriage. he was a complete stranger and i came away from it thinking, how marvellous is that that two strangers could talk so openly and candidly and very matter—of—fact about miscarriage and how we both felt about it. and then go on about our day. that is how we should be able to talk openly about it and not feel any shame or we did anything wrong. it is one of those things, and by meghan sharing her story, it hammered that point home that miscarriage, it happens to a lot of women, one in four macro pregnancies and it does not discriminate against anybody, it doesn‘t matter whether you are royalty or whether you are not, it isa royalty or whether you are not, it is a part of the process of being a woman and raising children. 0k, sophie, it is good to share your

thoughts. thank you for your time. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with ben the remnants of a weather front providing cloud and some whether bots to the channel islands. 0ne whether bots to the channel islands. one or two showers elsewhere but largely clear skies and temperatures to drop down around freezing. a touch below freezing in one or two places. could be the odd fog patch around tomorrow morning as well and some of the fog could be slow to clear buffer mostly to see some spells of sunshine. patchy cloud, one or two isolated showers and his band of cloud and some patchy rain down towards the south—east. temperatures will struggle, five, six, seven, 8 degrees in some places and perhaps double digits for south wales and south—west england. thursday into friday, fog widespread across england and wales, south—east scotla nd across england and wales, south—east scotland and patchy rain to scotland

and northern ireland. some of the fog could be slow to clear and it is going to be one of the coldest days we have had for quite some time. this is bbc news. i‘m simon mccoy. the headlines — the cost of coronavirus — the chancellor paints the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country, with the economy due to contract by 11.4%, the biggest fall in output in over 300 years. today‘s spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. 0ur health emergency is not yet over, and our economic emergency has only just begun. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it as a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. many key workers, who willingly took on so much responsibility during this crisis are now being forced to tighten their belts. now, not in the medium term. to which the chancellor prefers,

now. unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year, leaving 2.6 million people out of work. the chancellor also announces a £4 billion pound levelling up fund to help local communities, supported by a uk infrastructure bank, based in the north of england. in other news, the duchess of sussex reveals she suffered a miscarriage in july, writing in an article of feeling "an almost unbearable grief". as the covid rules are eased for christmas, people are urged to be sensible, or risk another wave of the virus. also coming up — closed and empty — how village halls, once the heart of many communities, are being hit by covid restrictions. good afternoon. the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country has been laid bare this afternoon. the chancellor has been delivering his spending review and says the coronavirus pandemic has been both a health

and an economic emergency. the government says the latest figures make for a sobering read and that now is the time to protect jobs — and livelihoods. rishi sunak warned that government debt and borrowing are at record levels. he said the economy would contract by 11.3% — the largest fall for 300 years. he announced that pay forjust under half of public sector workers in england would be paused — but that nurses, doctors and lower paid workers would still get a rise. mr sunak said the unemployment rate is expected to peak at 7.5% in the second quarter of 2021 — that‘s 2.6 million people who will be out of work. and he also announced a new levelling up fund and national infrastructure bank to finance local projects. we‘ll have more on these announcements and analysis from our expert correspondents. 0urfirst report is from our political correspondent jonathan blake. reporter: how bad is it looking, chancellor? he knew, and would soon tell us how bad the country‘s finances were, how big the bill for the pandemic had become, and how much

ministers might get to spend. before the big numbers, and big promises, a reality check on what state the economy is in. chancellor. mr speaker, today‘s spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. 0ur health emergency is not yet over, and our economic emergency has only just begun. rishi sunak had warned of an economic shock from coronavirus, and said that the government‘s moves to help absorb it had come at a hefty price. we are prioritising jobs, businesses and public services. the furlough scheme, support for the self—employed, loans, grants, tax cuts and deferrals, as well as extra funding for schools, councils, the nhs, charities, culture and sport, today‘s figures confirm that, taken together,

we are providing £280 billion to get our country through coronavirus. mr sunak confirmed unemployment was forecast to rise to 2.6 million by the middle of next year, and economic output would fall by the largest amount for centuries. businesses were suffering, the chancellor said, and the public sector had to make sacrifices too. taking account of the pay review body‘s advice, we will provide a pay rise to over one million nurses, doctors and others working in the nhs. second, to protect jobs, pay rises and the rest of the public sector will be paused next year. but third, we will protect those on lower incomes. the 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 will be guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250. among the other announcements, a £4 billion fund for community

and infrastructure projects, and a cut to overseas aid. labour said the government had its priorities wrong. earlier this year, the chancellor stood on his doorstep and clapped for key workers. today, his government institutes a pay freeze for many of them. this takes a sledgehammer to consumer confidence. firefighters, police officers and teachers will know their spending power is going down, so they will spend less on our small businesses and on our high streets. an argument echoed by the snp. it feels like the governrment is punishing people for working in the public sector. the absolute heroes who saw us through this pandemic have more than earned their pay. a public sector pay freeze takes £4 billion out of the economy, squeezes living standards

and is as the economy of investment and starves the economy of investment at the very worst possible time. i listen very carefully to the chancellor but i did not hear enough, enough of those who have enjoyed so much in this crisis and i will have a pay freeze. simply for the economy to survive, the chancellor has had to borrow and spend extraordinary amounts. there is no escape from the grim reality, which rishi sunak confirmed today would get worse before it gets better. jonathan blake, bbc news. let‘s take a look at the big numbers in today‘s announcement. they are big. they are huge. we haven‘t seen anything like this in peacetime, particularly with regards to public spending, so if we look at what was predicted for public spending back in march when we have the last big set piece event, the budget, and the office for public responsibility —— budget responsibility —— budget responsibility predicted £928 billion. now we are in a completely

different world. that is the latest prediction for now, 1100 and £65 billion. as a percentage of the economy that is higher than it has been since 1945, 46, a massive expansion of the state‘s role, if you are spending more money in then you are spending more money in then you are spending more money in then you are dropping in tax receipts, well, then you have to borrow the difference, and in march they were forecasting that you would have to borrow £55 billion to plug the gap between impact —— income and spinning. in august up to £372 billion. now the forecast is that the government will have to borrow £349 billion, again unprecedented in peacetime. this is really an economy ona peacetime. this is really an economy on a wartime footing. what have we learned about concrete plans for spending and cuts? compared to the

figures i gave you they are relatively small but the chancellor has been saying for example then it has been saying for example then it has been saying for example then it has been flagged up earlier this week that they will spend an extra £4 billion a year on defence. that is one of the increases and spending we are seeing. and money forjobs, which adds up to an average of £1.4 billion over the next three years, but there are also some cuts. we have had flagged up cuts in the overseas aid budget from its current level. we‘re also hearing as you heard earlier about a public sector pay freeze above a certain level, although rishi sunak was saying if you earn 24 grand or less you‘ll get an extra £250 a year, anybody above that level will see their pay frozen. they have also seen it capped or frozen for much of the past decade and their pay is now lower in real terms than it was ten yea rs lower in real terms than it was ten years ago. one of the reasons public sector workers hit by that papers won‘t be happy. sector workers hit by that papers won't be happy. and the assumption is that brexit will go smoothly, is it? not everyone is making that

assumption, the office for budget responsibility is building in a scenario where we don‘t get a deal. already there saying we won‘t recover. rishi sunak we say we won‘t get back to pre—pandemic levels until the end of 2022, two years from now, but if we also don‘t get a brexit deal, it is proper going to be longer than that, 2324 before we are —— 23—24 before we are back to the pre—pandemic level, and that is a big hit comes on top of the pre—pandemic level, so it might be higher than we previously thought. thank you very much. 0ur political correspondent helen cattjoins me. the chancellor laid it all out and it is not pretty. very much it isn‘t. the main thing we need to ta ke isn‘t. the main thing we need to take away from the spending review is that this is a big, big hit to the economy, not just is that this is a big, big hit to the economy, notjust that, but it is only just really the economy, notjust that, but it is onlyjust really beginning. you heard from andy, the largest fall in economic output for 300 years, the largest peacetime bill for borrowing £394 billion. these are massive, eye

watering numbers, and it really sort of sets the tone i think for the rest of this parliament that we are running up this enormous bill. what was interesting was that the chancellor was also pretty clear that now is not really the time to stop paying it in earnest, that we are still effectively running it up, so while there will be pressure at some point fairly soon down the line for the chancellor to come up with a plan of how we are going to start to pay this money back, and a plan for growth for that sort of stuff, then right now he is saying that is not the time because we still need to as it were, you just have to keep putting stuff in. i will ask you one more question, if you don‘t want to a nswer more question, if you don‘t want to answer it, just tell me to... anyway. i wouldn't dare, answer it, just tell me to... anyway. iwouldn't dare, simon! cuts to social care they seem to be looking at, and saying there has been a mistake made there.” looking at, and saying there has been a mistake made there. i think this is the point where everyone

sta rts this is the point where everyone starts to look over the figures really closely and see where those cuts are coming and things are going to bite. things we have spoken about like the public sector pay freeze, those on lower incomes, everyone on a less than average wage of £24,000 would see their pay frozen but the reasoning for that from the treasury, the rationale they applied, is it is an idea of fairness, the public sector has been so incredibly badly hit this year, many people working in the private sector that it is not fair to the public sector to get pay increases, so they are pitching it as this idea of fairness but as you say this is the point where everyone really sta rts the point where everyone really starts to pour over the detail of this and i‘m sure we will see much more emerge over the course of the evening. i will leave you to lean over the balcony and respond. as we‘ve just heard, the chancellor has announced a cut in the uk‘s overseas aid budget to 0.5% of national income, down from the legally binding target of 0.7%. despite pledging not to cut the aid

budget in last year‘s conservative manifesto. i‘ve been speaking to our diplomatic correspondent james landale. some people think now is not the time to spend lots of money on aid, others think it‘s a shim poll of britain‘s leadership. they are probably going to have to change the law to do it. this is what the chancellor said as he set out his announcement in the house of commonsjust now. i want to reassure the house that we will continue to protect the world's poorest. spending the equivalent of 0.5% of our national income on overseas aid in 2021, allocating £10 billion at this spending review. and our intention is to return to 0.7% when the fiscal situation allows. well, sounds simple. just a few numbers. what that means in practical terms

is four billion less be spent on aid so the chancellor‘s argument that will be spent at home on hospitals and education, what it means that millions of children will not be immunised as a result. difficult political problem for the government, they are probably going to have to take it through parliament. there will be lots of battles there. the government has pledged to level—up the economy spreading more resources to the north. 0ur correspondent fiona trott has reaction from newcastle. what matters most to people here is the announcement about the £3 billion restart job creation scheme. this is a region with the highest unemployment rate in the uk, some of the highest child poverty rates in the country here, too. remember in september, tougher measures were introduced here in newcastle, it was hit hard by the pandemic and it hit the hospitality sector very hard. the city relies on that sector for £340 million a year. one month after those tougher measures were introduced, the sector lost £20 million.

a lot of people lost theirjobs. for those in work on a level wage, we are hearing the living wage is increasing byjust over 2% to £8 91 per hour. is increasing byjust over 2% to £8.91 per hour. a lot of people in newcastle welcome back, they say it could be higher. remember last month when a group of around 50 conservative mps wrote to the prime minister saying they were concerned that the cost of covid would be paid for by a downgrading of the levelling up agenda and that northern constituencies would suffer the brunt of that. today, the chancellor announced a levelling up a fund of £4 billion available to any area for bypasses, libraries, museums, railway stations, projects like that. we also heard that a new uk infrastructure bank has been announced and it will be headquartered here in the north of england, which will finance infrastructure projects from next spring. a word of warning, though, from political leaders here in the north, including the mayor of greater

manchester, andy burnham. he had said that big projects, years down the line don‘t help people now, whose lives have been put on hold. he said we don‘t want the north of england returning to another 1980s style of a prolonged, economic downturn. that was fiona trott in newcastle. the headlines on bbc news... the cost of coronavirus — the chancellor paints the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country — with the economy due to contract by 11.4% — the biggest fall in output in over 300 years. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year — leaving 2.6 million people out of work. police in the west midlands say

they are investigating an alleged attack by secondary school pupils in telford as a hate crime. west mercia police says it‘s aware of a video circulating on social media, which appears to show a pupil from the sikh community being pushed by two other boys, before being struck a number of times in the head while on the ground. the force has described it as a deeply distressing incident, which it is treating with the utmost seriousnes. the duchess of sussex has revealed she suffered a miscarriage in july. writing in the new york times, meghan markle said it had happened while she was caring for her son, archie — adding that the loss of a child was an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. they are both thought to have been keen to have another child, after their son archie‘s birth in may of last year. earlier this year at their home in california, meghan was pregnant. but then, as she has described in an article in the new york times, one morning injuly she felt a sudden cramp.

she describes the tears she and harry both shed and goes on, it is worth pointing out that the miscarriage itself happened injuly at a time where, you know, they were not out of the headlines. you know, royal biographies being written about them. they could not escape the spotlight. and now we know, actually, the pain, as meghan says, the unbearable grief that, as a couple, they were going through. meghan is not the first member of the royal family to have a miscarriage. but she is the first to write about it. and she places it in the context of a year when so many have faced loss. it has been a year, she says, which has brought so many of us to our breaking points,

whether through bereavement or the sharp divisions within societies. and she recommends a simple step, inspired, she says, by the interview she did in southern africa a year ago, when she was asked whether she was ok. thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if i‘m 0k. but it‘s a very real thing to be going through behind—the—scenes. that question, "are you 0k", is one from which she says we can all learn. as much as we may disagree, and as physically distanced as we may be at the moment, the duchess suggests that we are in fact more connected than ever because of what we have collectively endured in recent months. it is a powerful appeal, hiding the couple‘s personal sadness. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the chancellor has announced that council care services in england, which provide support for older and disabled people, will have access to an extra £1 billion in funding — but only a third of that is likely to be new money and those providing

services say it is not enough. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt is with me. allison, just clarify this for us. it sounds like a lot of money, but already that call, as we hear, not enough. well, you have to remember when we went into the pandemic, the social care sector, support for people in their own homes and in ca re people in their own homes and in care homes, was already described as being in crisis and in need of a lot more funding. then you got the pandemic, with the increased demand and increased costs. so today, the chancellor has talked about care services having access to an extra billion pounds in spending, and it does sound a lot of money. it‘s when you get down to the nitty—gritty, you get down to the nitty—gritty, you look at how that jigsaw you get down to the nitty—gritty, you look at how thatjigsaw of money is put together, that it raises questions about whether or not, basically how much it will do, so it is £300 million for a new grant, and

then local authorities are being given flexibility to raise more money from council tax in the social ca re money from council tax in the social care precept. now this is an extra charge put on council tax specifically to help with adult care funding. now this is a really notoriously difficult way of raising money, because particularly in more deprived areas, you will have a lower level of council tax, you will raise less money than say a more affluent area, so it is difficult to work out how much money you are going to get from that. before we went into the spending review, council officials were saying it would take at least £1.3 billion for them to stand still with services, so that‘s to deal with the demographic pressures, we are an ageing population, and also to deal with inflationary costs, like the increase in the minimum wage, and charities responses have been that it is simply not enough. thank you

very much, alison holt. people across the uk are making plans for christmas after the leaders of all four nations agreed yesterday to relax coronavirus restrictions over the festive period, to allow people to spend time with loved ones. catherine burns reports. this year of separation is almost coming to a close. it is exactly a month until december 25, but instead of a very merry christmas, we are being told to have a modest, limited and cautious time. but there will be a relaxation of the rules. from the 23rd of december to the 27th of december you will be able to form a christmas bubble with up to two other households. so for the five days of christmas, up to seven if you are travelling to orfrom northern ireland, most families will be able to celebrate together, but not exactly as normal. but vulnerable people might not want to take the risk. elaine cares for her husband michael, he has dementia, cancer, and diabetes. i can understand people wanting to mix, of course they want to see their families. we do, i yearn to see my children.

but, you know, if it is going to make michael poorly, or even me, because i am vulnerable too, then we have to go with the flow and do as we are told. coronavirus is still out there. yesterday, another 608 deaths were recorded, people who died within a month of testing positive for covid. effectively, what this would be doing is throwing fuel on the covid fire. i think it will definitely lead to increased transmission, effectively, what this would be doing is throwing fuel on the covid fire. i think it will definitely lead to increased transmission, it's likely to lead to a third wave of infection. and this is happening just as we are going into what is traditionally the busiest time of the year for the nhs, even without a pandemic. anything that happens on top of that would be an additional worry. so certainly a double whammy, in terms of covid and normal health pressure, and potentially a triple whammy, if we see any effects of the relaxation of restrictions. and so the message isjust

because we can do something, doesn‘t mean that we should. please think carefully, use it responsibly and then we will all of us not face the consequences in the new year that could overwhelm our nhs, and lead to real consequences in the lives of people who matter the most to you. when a number of people get together, there is always a risk that someone could be infected and not know it. the bigger the group, the bigger the risk, especially if they come from different households. the best thing you can have is this, fresh air, meeting outside, which isn‘t always easy in december. inside, maybe keep a window open. other things you can do to cut your risk, try to keep your distance. don‘t go around sharing plates of nibbles, and keep visits short. i am living a very isolated life as it is. i‘m only meeting sort of half a dozen people week in, week out. so i feel the risk is very low for me.

a lot of people are not seeing it first hand, are they? so you know, if you are not seeing or hearing of anyone that has caught it or suffered from it, maybe you are thinking is it as bad as everyone makes out, you know? my mum, who is in her 80s, that is my concern. but at the same time the sort of mental health issue i think is really important as well. there‘s no point in doing this if suddenly the cases go back up again. all that sacrifice, all the lockdown would be in vain. you will still be able to meet people outside your bubble, but sticking to the rules of the tier your area is in. as for these christmas bubbles, they will burst before we ring in 2021. the question is, what kind of covid hangover we will have to deal with in january? catherine burns, bbc news. let‘s speak now to dr michael head, senior research fellow in global health at southampton university. thanks forjoining us this afternoon. i suspect there are a lot of people who would rather we stayed

as things are over christmas, but in reality you can‘t, can you? as things are over christmas, but in reality you can't, can you? good afternoon. yeah, and i think i would agree with some of the previous commentary played, including professor hayward, that we do risk a significant increases in infections and therefore hospitalisations and deaths from covid—19 in the new year, if we mix too much on christmas day. i think in the context of a pandemic winter, we have to ask ourselves how important is christmas day really, when we could potentially with vaccines being deployed see our relatives a little more freely in the weeks and months to come. how do you mitigate that risk? what you say to great grandparents and great and their relatives that perhaps makes things less risky? i think adhering to the guidance and advice around lowering the risk of an infection, if you are together, so try to avoid staying overin together, so try to avoid staying over in other people‘s houses if you can, keep visits brief, if you can

meet outside, then do. again, open windows and doors to create that ventilation and three draft. that all helps and that is all advice you can give to relatives who are younger or older. just to try and keep them as safe as possible. but then also think, do i really need to travel and do i really need to meet in person, when we can do things like video calls and so on, which are not as good as meeting in person, but again it is a pandemic winter, so they may suffice for now. the difficulty is we are talking about christmas, also about a time when everybody can see light at the end of the channel. there is so much talk about the vaccines. the public may just feel, talk about the vaccines. the public mayjust feel, oh, talk about the vaccines. the public may just feel, oh, i talk about the vaccines. the public mayjust feel, oh, i can afford to ta ke mayjust feel, oh, i can afford to take this risk, and that‘s the message you want to try and stop? absolutely, we shouldn‘t be taking too many risks at this point in time, when as you say there is that light at the end of the tunnel. we have three vaccine candidates that may well be promising and may be deployed in the coming weeks in high—risk groups. so we need to follow the guidance as we can and

also where the guidance allows us to meet, because i think we should use our discretion as much as possible, and are on the cautious side of that, just to try to keep those cases low around us and across the populations. good to see you, dr michael head. thank you for your time. back to the spending review now and the focus on public sector pgy- chancellor rish sunak says there will be a freeze on the pay of the police, fire service and teachers. nurses and doctors and those in the lowest paid jobs will still get an increase in their wages. the chancellor said that while much of the private sector had been hammered during the coronavirus crisis, public sector workers had largely not been affected byjob losses and falling wages. well, we can speak now to sarahjames — a customer service advisor for local government in the council tax and housing department. thank you for your time this afternoon. is he right? no. he is not. yes, it‘s true that public sector workers haven‘t been affected by furlough in the main. however, public sector workers have still

been going out every single day, looking after our local communities, making sure our bins are cleaned, making sure our bins are cleaned, making sure our children are still able to go to school, working in aduu able to go to school, working in adult social care, being the only people that some of our residents only see. like myself, i have been working constantly throughout the pandemic, and it kind of comes full circle. by not giving public sector workers a pay raise, which we haven‘t realistically had for a decade, we have been facing with pay austerity, it comes full circle. if we haven‘t got that little bit of extra cash we can put in our back pocket and take out to local shops, we can‘t put back into the economy. bills are rising, so our wages aren‘t keeping up with inflation, which means then that all we are doing is basically living hand to mouth. we can‘t then go out and help support those in retail, hospitality, manufacturing sectors, which then, yes, does lead tojob

losses, but it shouldn‘t be down to the public sector to prop up the public sector. it shouldn‘t be worker pitted against worker. sarah, what do you say to those in the private sector who have lost their jobs, through no fault of their own? we are looking at a crisis in the economy, and they may turn around and say, look, at least you‘ve got a job? yeah, of course. my heart goes out to anyone that has lost their job as a result of this pandemic, but the public sector are the ones that keep communities together. we‘ve stood on our doorsteps, clapping for our key workers, and public sector workers are key workers, that was made very clear by the chancellor early doors during this pandemic, and then to use us as easy pickings to claw back money that quite frankly has been given out to friends of government offices, i mean, we‘ve seen it today, there has been news that £10 billion was wasted on ppe thatjust

wasn‘t sufficient. so my heart goes out to anyone that has lost their job as a result of the failure of this government to prepare properly. the chancellor making the point that not for 300 years have we faced a crisis like this. he did introduce the furlough scheme, which has been widely praised. what else do you think he got wrong? there has been a number of things that have gone wrong throughout... since the start of the pandemic. we were not prepared enough as a country. i know in terms of ppe, there wasn‘t enough there. there was enough supplied but it was for an influenza pandemic. no one could have foreseen what was going on, but at the time when the government was introducing the first lockdown, they were too slow at that, lives could have been saved and jobs could have been saved and they were too quick to relax some of they were too quick to relax some of

the rules, which has ended up with as being in this situation we are in now. sarah james, thank you for joining us. thank you. reaction to the decision to ditch the 0.7% ma nifesto the decision to ditch the 0.7% manifesto pledge of national income on overseas aid. the chancellor announced it has been dropped to 0.5%. the foreign office minister baroness hogg has resigned in protest at the cut in overseas aid announced by the chancellor. she has branded it fundamentally wrong. —— baroness sugg. it was in the conservative manifesto. let‘s go to our political correspondent, helen kat. it is the conservatives particularly upset about this pledge? yes, there is a widespread backlash over this pledge, while the pledge was to spend 0.7% of gross

national income in foreign aid. rishi sunak cutting it to 0.5% and it will depend on the financial situation as to whether it will be reinstated. nicola sturgeon is saying it is deplorable. she said it isa saying it is deplorable. she said it is a political gesture to the right wing of the tory party. but there are plenty of tory mps who got up this afternoon criticised this decision and questioning the timing and the effect it will have on the world‘s porous. many voices have been urging the chancellor not to do this, including david cameron. he wrote at the weekend it would be the wrong thing to do. now we have this resignation, from baroness sugg. she believes cutting it is fundamentally wrong and she said it should be honoured through the tough times as well as the good. she makes the point that because it is a percentage, so it is linked to the economy anyway, there is already a

downturn in the amount it would be spent. the treasury would say, it is generous still, compared to what some other countries give in foreign aid. they recognise people at home are struggling, so a degree charity begins at home. the treasury are saying if there was ever a time to look at it again, the biggest hit since the 18th century, would be a valid time to do that. this is going to be something we will see a lot of backlash on over the coming days. helen, thank you very much. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s 0lly foster. good afternoon. the chief executive of the professional footballers association gordon taylor will leave the organisation at the end of the season, after 40 years in the role. it follows the conclusion of a review into the governance of the player‘s union. the pfa has faced criticismrecently for how it‘s addressed the issue of dementia among former players. here‘s our football

reporter simon stone. this comes at a time when yet again, the pfa is under huge scrutiny for what some would see a lack of action over a growing dementia crisis involving ex—players. as you say, there is huge scrutiny, like never before almost, in the workings of the pfa and what they are doing. people within the pfa argue they are doing all they can in terms of dementia and other issues to help members from the outside it doesn‘t appear to be enough. now, within the next five or six months, we are going to get huge change within the organisation and it will be very, very interesting to see which way that change will go. gordon taylor has been in that position for almost four decades. he has transformed the pfa, but there is no doubt that he will leave with the organisation under a huge cloud.

one of the studies into dementia among footballers needs former players from the women‘s game to come forward with the fear that they could be at greater risk from the disease than men. the former england goalkeeper rachel brown—finnis is going to help with the research at the university of east anglia. i lived in the states and the studies being drawn between head injuries, concussion and then further down the line, dementia and alzheimer‘s from american footballers, there has already been so much research is into that and it has been accepted into the sport that it has been accepted into the sport thatitis has been accepted into the sport that it is a real problem. we will be coming to the same conclusions in our sport and it is no different from men to women. whoever you are playing football, growing up as a youngster, the repetitive element of that. it is disconcerting to hear that. it is disconcerting to hear that women are even more prone to this disease in the long run. fifa have revealed the nominees for their players

and coaches of the year awards. marcelo bielsa has made the shortlist for his work at leeds united, getting them back into the premier league. liverpool‘sjurgen klopp is also on the list. lucy bronze and ellie roebuck are up for player and goalkeeper of the year. they are the only british nominees for the main awards. the australian open is likely to be delayed by at least a week. the first tennis grand slam of the year is due to start on the 18th january, but with players unable to enter the state of victoria until the first of the month and then having to quarantine for two weeks — that would affect warm up events and the players ability to train and prepare. andy murray is going to take part and can see the benefits of shifting the tournament to later in the month. a lot of the players are coming from, you know, very cold climates just now. to then go and ask, you know, you know, players to go and play in 35, 36 degree heat with no match preparation, itjust increases the risk of, you know, injuries, possibly the quality of tennis probably not going to be that high,

so, yeah, it wouldn‘t be a deal breakerfor me, it makes it a little bit tougher. england‘s natalie sciver played a starring role for the melbourne stars as they booked their place in the t20 big bash final for the first time. sciver top scored in their match against perth scorchers, she hit five boundaries and was unbeaten on 47 as they chased down a target 126 with 7 wickets and 22 balls to spare. they‘ll face either brisbane heat or sydney thunder who play their semi—final tomorrow. the final is on saturday. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. more now on the spending review. the chancellor, rishi sunak, has said he expects a million more people to be unemployed by the middle of next year. 1.6 million people are currently out of work in the uk.

mr sunak confirmed that public sector workers, excluding some nhs staff, will have their pay frozen to help repay more than £390 billion the government has borrowed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. let‘s talk about all of today‘s developments with the leader of the scottish national party at westminster, the mp ian blackford. ina in a nutshell, your response to what he outlined today? it is a missed opportunity to show we‘re going to support millions of public sector workers who are now looking at a pay freeze. there had to be physical recovery, freeze. there had to be physical recovery , we freeze. there had to be physical recovery, we had to make sure they could bounce back and the government had to take for that. and if westminster cannot do that, they should hand the powers to the scottish government to just do that. but what does horrify me is what is happening with the aid budget, to see that cut from 0.7 down to 0.5%. it is the wrong thing to do, we need

to support the most vulnerable around the world as we come out of this crisis, we need to make sure people have access to the vaccinations. we know the un and the world bank have given chilling warnings over an increase in extreme poverty, an extra 250 million people going into extreme poverty and a million young girls who may not go back into education. we have the responsibility to do the right thing to show we are acting in a position of leadership to support those who need our support. it is particularly true given the role the uk is going to be playing in the g7 and cop 26. an independent scotland would commit 0.7% of its income for overseas aid, what if? we have had a cross-party consensus in the house of commons, all parties in the election last

year signed up to that. the prime minister signed up to that and i asked him about it today at pmqs and he told me he would and then it was reversed a few minutes later. there is an issue of trust and the snp has made it clear we would accept the obligations to the international community. it is the right thing to do, we need to do our bit to help young people, young girls in particular, to access education, which is so important in leading a pathway out of poverty for so many suffering from there. when education scotla nd suffering from there. when education scotland is under the spotlight and in the middle of a pandemic, those saying we have to look closer to home? of course we have to look at domestically, and the scottish government will put in the payment that will drive young people out of poverty in scotland, it is not one or the other. there is an increased level of debt we have, but the way we deal with that is making sure we ta ke we deal with that is making sure we take measures to grow the economy as

we come out of this crisis. you don‘t do it by imposing cuts on people here, and that you don‘t do it by making life more difficult for those in areas where they are seeing extreme forms of poverty. scotland will get £2.4 billion in the block grant, an extra 11 million to cover what you would normally have got from the european union. what would you say in terms of the prioritising of the devolved administrations from the chancellor today? there is a real worry, simon. we know on the back of the internal market bill, the uk government will have the ability to go over the heads of the scottish parliament, those that have been sent by the electorate to determine our priorities. the government in london is giving it powers over infrastructure, powers over transport, for example. some very worrying trends that are taking place. it is not the collegiate situation we are used to. what we

have got in london is a government that will determine powers over a whole swathes of devolved areas. it is not acceptable and it is important people in scotland understand that threat, we have an election coming up next year, that it should be about the right of people of scotland to choose their own future and find their way back into the european union. we will have millions spent on some kind of brexit festival, which will make us all poorer. you talk about being collegiate and the priority of the snp is to have a referendum next year, but at some point you will have to explain how you are going to pay, given the financial mess we are all in at the moment. are you going to raise taxes? what are you going to raise taxes? what are you going to do? we are in a situation right around the western world, including all of us, that there are levels of debt that are of some concern. the

fiscal deficit is concerning and of course we have to deal with that. but we need to approach this the same way we did recovering after the end of the second world war. we effectively have to drive investment into the economy to deliver higher growth, which will deliver the tax receipts that will allow us to pay for the debt that is being created. we will not do this by tax increases on its own or by cutting spending, we have to grow the economy. but at the same time, delivered a greener economy to cut carbon emissions. i say to the uk government, let‘s engage proactively on a discussion about how we do that and i commit myself, my party, to engage in that conversation that we need to have. if the scots at the end of the second world war said we need a vote on independence within a year of the end of the second world war, a lot of people would have said, this is the wrong time, the wrong thing to be doing, we need to pull together.

what is different this time? we have got to get through the covid crisis, thatis got to get through the covid crisis, that is the priority we all have. does that mean you will put a referendum on hold next year? the fa ct referendum on hold next year? the fact is, in the midst of this covid crisis we have the uk government that are full steam ahead, taking us out of the european union, seeking to do out of the european union, seeking todoa out of the european union, seeking to do a deal over the course of the coming days that will be detrimental to everyone. there will be real questions as to what will happen on the 1st of january. we all know about the fears of congestion at the ports and so on. it is not the snp bringing those threats, it is boris johnson and those who are absolutely determined to drive full steam ahead when we could have a transition period and make sure that we keep within the single market and the customs union in order but back as a consequence of that, we have to make sure we have got a life draft for

the people of scotland back into europe. it is right on the back of the election that we hope, whatever the election that we hope, whatever the situation the vaccine is going to be freely available up and down the four nations of the united kingdom, from a position of safety, when we have dealt with the cove environment —— covid virus, that we give the people of scotland the opportunity to determine their own future. ian blackford, thank you for your time. the headlines on bbc news... the cost of covid — the chancellor paints the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country — with the economy due to contract by 11.4% — the biggest fall in output in over 300 years. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence.

unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year leaving 2.6 million people out of work. the duchess of sussex has described experiencing an ‘almost unbearable grief‘ after losing her second child in a miscarriage. in an article in the new york times, meghan wrote how she lost her unborn baby injuly in california, a moment that left husband harry holding the ‘shattered pieces‘ of her heart. a source close to the duchess confirmed to the bbc that the duchess is currently in good health. comedian sophie mccartney, who documents her life as a parent in her videos online, broke away from her comedy style for a video called, ‘miscourage‘ to speak about having a miscarriage, and having to go through the process in hospital on her own because of the pandemic. i did, i broke away from my normal comedy content to share something that had been happening in my life and obviously very similar to what has happened to meghan. and the reason i did it was because i felt that not enough people actually spoke about miscarriage. i felt it was very much a taboo in society and there was a lot of unnecessary shame

around the topic. i hoped that by speaking out it would break down some of those walls. i think that is probably why meghan has also done it. it was something she didn‘t need to do, we didn‘t know she was pregnant and i think as a result of her speaking so publicly about it, i think it will have a very positive effect on a lot of women he will resonate very strongly with her story, as they did with mine. do you think there is a taboo or do people think it is such a private thing that if people don‘t want to talk about it, they really don‘t have to? i think there is a taboo, i think there is. i think society, on a whole, we don‘t really know how to deal with the topic. it is also something, i understand it is not a particularly pleasant topic to talk about, it makes people feel uncomfortable, especially if they have never been through it before. but it becomes part of the cycle and then people feel they cannot talk about it because it makes other people feel uncomfortable.

they will think, nobody wants to know i had a baby that died, or i miscarried. so we don‘t talk about it, but i think what happens when we do speak out is that it makes other people understand the grief and then i think, on a whole, it becomes more acceptable to talk about it. and if we don‘t talk about it, because it is a very real grief to people who have gone through it, especially with early miscarriage there is a tendency to sweep it under the carpet, especially if it was before 12 weeks. people say, you can get pregnant again, it was very early. there is a lot of that mentality, but for the people it has happened to, for the woman, for the couple, it is a big trauma and it is not addressed properly and if it is not spoken about properly, it can manifest into varying anxieties and problems moving forward. i think in general, by speaking about it i know from my own perspective it was a very cathartic event to be

able to get that weight lifted off my shoulders and say, do you know what? it happened to me, it was awful but i‘m moving forward and the feedback i got from a lot of people who watched the video, it was a very useful thing to see, so they could also have the strength to then share their stories and also move forward. it is a very powerful article and i wonder what sort of reaction you got to yours? people do find it a very uncomfortable thing to talk about. they do, and it is understandable. as i said, it is not a topic you would expect in an everyday conversation with somebody you met at the supermarket. how are you? i am ok, but i have just had a miscarriage. it is an uncomfortable situation. i found that by speaking about it, i was inundated by thousands of comments and messages by people saying the exact same scenarios had happened to them.

mine was missed miscarriage. i got to 11 weeks when i miscarried and my body hadn‘t realised that was what was happening and it was carrying on the pregnancy even though there was no heartbeat. i had never heard about that before, again because it is something not spoken about. so i was surprised by the messages from a lot of women saying they had the same thing happened to them. i had letters from partners of the women he went of the women who went through miscarriage and they were grateful to have another person speak about it so they can see it from that perspective and then they could speak to their partner about it. i was stopped in a park by a gentleman who tapped me on the shoulder and said, i saw your video and i wanted to say thank you for talking about it. it is something we feel as a couple we cannot talk about, and it happened to us. we were stood in the park with our dogs, talking very openly about miscarriage. he was a complete stranger and i came away from it thinking, how marvellous is that that two strangers could talk so openly

and candidly and very matter—of—fact about miscarriage and how we both felt about it. and then go on about our day. that is how we should be able to talk openly about it and not feel any shame or we did anything wrong. it is one of those things, and by meghan sharing her story, it hammered that point home that miscarriage, it happens to a lot it happens to a lot of women, one in four pregnancies and it does not discriminate against anybody, it doesn‘t matter whether you are royalty or whether you are not, it is a part of the process of being a woman and raising children. an inadequate stockpile of personal protective equipment in england before the pandemic and a surge in price because of a boom in global demand, has cost the taxpayer around £10 billion. that‘s the findings of a report by the public spending watchdog, the national audit office. it says there was a particular shortage of gloves and aprons, and two orders for 75 million face masks could not be used

as they did not pass current safety standards. an inadequate stockpile of personal protective equipment in england had been able to get what they needed in time. as nurses and doctors risked their lives to save others, they should have been protected. but a shortage of personal protective equipment left many feeling vulnerable. the report from the spending watchdog found in the early months of the pandemic, not enough ppe, huge increases in prices, and orders that failed to meet specifications. at the start of the pandemic, the government hadn‘t built the ppe stockpile up enough. there were only nine days‘ worth of goggles, seven days‘ worth of protective aprons, and not enough gowns to even last a day. so they were forced to buy as prices rocketed. the cost of body bags and gowns went up by more than 1000%. gloves went up by 500%. more than £12 billion

was spent buying ppe. if it had been bought at the prices a year before, £10 billion could have been saved. your masks and your two boxes... dan archer runs an in—home care company in sheffield. the report highlights how care companies came close to running out of ppe. we support vulnerably placed adults in the community. i‘m not a procurement expert, but we were finding ourselves in a position, with a little bit of work, a little bit of desk research, where we were able to find these facemasks for better value than we were being offered by government sanctioned providers. in august, the bbc revealed 150 million facemasks with ear loops, supplied by ayanda capital, couldn‘t be used in the nhs. and similar masks from pestfix also didn‘t meet the safety specifications. pestfix agreed to supply other ppe instead. ayanda said it had met the requirements at the time. the report says there could be millions of other items of ppe,

totalling hundreds of millions of pounds, that are potentially unsuitable. we‘re suggesting that there is a comprehensive lessons learned exercise that should be undertaken, that should involve local stakeholders, staff, representatives and care providers, to look at how we prepare for future emergency pandemics, orjust emergencies generally. the department of health said during this unprecedented pandemic, all the nhs providers audited were always able to get what they needed in time, thanks to the herculean effort of government, nhs, armed forces, civil servants and industry. at the start of the pandemic, huge effort was made, but prices were high and supplies were low. lucy manning, bbc news. jane hill is up next, but now a look

at the weather. hello there. frost and fog are set to feature in our forecast for the next few days. in fact, we are going to see some of the coldest weather of the autumn so far. 0n the satellite picture, you can see a stripe of cloud which has been bringing some outbreaks of rain throughout the day, particularly across parts of england. behind it, clearer skies and colder airfiltering down from the north. i mentioned clearer skies, we have seen some beautiful sunshine in places today — that was how it looked earlier on in county down. with those clear skies we have got cold air in place. these are the temperatures we will have at six o‘clock this evening, quite a chilly start to the evening, and it‘s only going to get colder with those clear skies overhead. still a few showers across northern scotland, maybe northern ireland, filtering into north—west and north wales, and this weather front still bringing some extra cloud to the far south—east. not as cold here, but for most, with the clear spells, it‘s going to be a chilly night — temperatures hovering around freezing, a touch below in places, so there will be a touch of frost tomorrow morning. high pressure is going to be building its way in for the next couple of days.

a frontal system down to the south will keep some extra cloud across the far south—east of england and the channel islands throughout the day, still perhaps the odd spot of rain here. 0therwise, some spells of sunshine. some fog patches around this evening, some of these could take a while to clear, but most places seeing sunny skies into the afternoon. a fairly chilly feeling day, temperatures just 5 degrees in glasgow, 9 in london, maybe 10 for cardiff, and 11 in plymouth. as we go through thursday night, it‘s going to be another cold one, but we will also see fog developing more widely across england and wales, perhaps south—east scotland as well. slightly different to the north—west of scotland and northern ireland, here a weather front brings some spots of rain. some of the fog through friday morning could be very slow to clear, some places will see it linger all day long, and that will make it feel very chilly indeed. even if you get some sunshine, it‘s going to be one of the coldest days we have had for quite some time — 5 to 8 degrees for most of us. into the weekend, high pressure tries to hold on, an area of low pressure squashing in from the south—west, it will strengthen the winds across south—western areas,

but also bringing some slightly milder air here. the further north and east you are, though, you will see the cold weather continuing, with overnight frost and some fog patches. a lot of dry weather, but daytime temperatures stuck in single digits.

this is bbc news. i‘mjane i‘m jane hill. the headlines — the cost of coronavirus — the chancellor paints the true scale of the financial crisis. the the economy is forecast to shrink by 11.3% this year — the biggest fall in output in more than 300 years. today‘s spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. 0ur health emergency is not yet over, and our economic emergency has only just begun. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it as a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. many key workers, who willingly took on so much responsibility during this crisis are now being forced to tighten their belts, now, not in the medium—term, to which the chancellor refers, now.

unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year, leaving 2.6 million people out of work by the middle of next year. the chancellor also announces a £4 billion levelling up fund to help local communities, supported by a uk infrastructure bank, based in the north of england. 0verseas aid is to be cut, prompting the resignation of a foreign office minister. in other news, the duchess of sussex reveals she suffered a miscarriage injuly — writing in an article of feeling "an almost unbearable grief". as the covid rules are eased for five days over christmas, people are urged to be sensible, or risk another wave of the virus also coming up — closed and empty — how village halls, once the heart of many communities,

are being hit by covid restrictions. good afternoon. the scale of the economic crisis facing the country has been laid bare this afternoon. the chancellor has delivered his spending review, saying the coronavirus pandemic has been both a health and an economic emergency. the government says the latest figures are a sobering read, and that now is the time to protect jobs and livelihoods. rishi sunak warned that government debt and borrowing are at record levels. he said the economy would contract by 11.3% this year — the largest fall for 300 years. he announced that pay forjust under half of all public sector workers in england will be frozen — but nurses, doctors and lower paid workers will get a pay rise.

the unemployment rate is expected to peak at 7.5% in the second quarter of 2021 — that‘s 2.6 million people who will be out of work. rishi sunak also announced a new levelling up fund and national infrastructure bank to finance local projects. we‘ll have plenty this afternoon about these announcements, and analysis from our correspondents. 0urfirst report is from our political correspondent jonathan blake. reporter: how bad is it looking, chancellor? he knew, and would soon tell us how bad the country‘s finances were, how big the bill for the pandemic had become, and how much ministers might get to spend. before the big numbers, and big promises, a reality check on what state the economy is in. chancellor.

mr speaker, today‘s spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people. 0ur health emergency is not yet over, and our economic emergency has only just begun. rishi sunak had warned of an economic shock from coronavirus, and said that the government‘s moves to help absorb it had come at a hefty price. we are prioritising jobs, businesses and public services. the furlough scheme, support for the self—employed, loans, grants, tax cuts and deferrals, as well as extra funding for schools, councils, the nhs, charities, culture and sport, today‘s figures confirm that, taken together, we are providing £280 billion to get our country through coronavirus. mr sunak confirmed unemployment was forecast to rise to 2.6 million by the middle of next year,

and economic output would fall by the largest amount for centuries. businesses were suffering, the chancellor said, and the public sector had to make sacrifices too. taking account of the pay review body‘s advice, we will provide a pay rise to over a million nurses, doctors and others working in the nhs. second, to protect jobs, pay rises in the rest of the public sector will be paused next year. but third, we will protect those on lower incomes. the 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 will be guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250. among the other announcements, a £4 billion fund for community and infrastructure projects, and a cut to overseas aid.

labour said the government had its priorities wrong. earlier this year, the chancellor stood on his doorstep and clapped for key workers. today, his government institutes a pay freeze for many of them. this takes a sledgehammer to consumer confidence. firefighters, police officers and teachers will know their spending power is going down, so they will spend less on our small businesses and on our high streets. an argument echoed by the snp. and other opposition parties. it feels like the governrment is punishing people for working in the public sector. the absolute heroes who saw us through this pandemic have more than earned their pay. a public sector pay freeze takes £4 billion out of the economy, squeezes living standards and starves the economy of investment at the very worst possible time. i listened intently to the chancellor, but what i didn‘t hear was enough. enough to protectjobs by extending furlough to the summer.

enough of those in the public sector, who have enjoyed so much in this crisis, and now we‘ll have a pay freeze. simply for the economy to survive, the chancellor has had to borrow and spend extraordinary amounts. there is no escape from the grim reality, which rishi sunak confirmed today would get worse before it gets better. jonathan blake, bbc news. ina in a moment will go through the real nuts and bolts of what rishi sunak had to announce without economics correspondent andy verity. more from him ina correspondent andy verity. more from him in a moment but first reaction to today‘s announcements from, as you can see, frances 0‘grady, general secretary of the trades union congress. good afternoon. your thoughts? we needed a budget for growth to create good jobs fast in the parts of the country that need them most. ithink the parts of the country that need them most. i think what we‘ve seen isa them most. i think what we‘ve seen is a levelling down budget, hitting working families in the pocket, and of course in particular key workers,

the very people who have carried on turning into work, caring for the rest of us through this crisis, and there will be a deep sense of unfairness. you are referring to the pay freeze, but it‘s not for everyone, not for all public sector workers, and the chancellor did say anyone earning less than 24,000 a year will still get a pay rise. will still get £250, which won‘t go very far, when food and rent and all the other bills are taken into account, andi other bills are taken into account, and i think what‘s worrying and deeply disappointing is that the treasury appears to be basing this on the false premise that public sector pay is higher than private sector pay is higher than private sector pay, whereas the institute for fiscal studies, afs, has made very clear they are comparing apples and pears. if you take into account qualifications and age, there is no difference between public and private sector pay, so this kind of divide and rule approach doesn‘t

wash, and! divide and rule approach doesn‘t wash, and i think most people who came out on their doorsteps to clap ca re came out on their doorsteps to clap care workers and prison officers, our police officers, all of those key workers who kept us going, want to see those workers fairly rewarded. what about the argument that public sector workers will have a greaterjob that public sector workers will have a greater job security that public sector workers will have a greaterjob security than someone in the private sector, and we all know unemployment has hit across so many sectors during this pandemic, and there is at least a degree of job security that a lot of people, as we have witnessed, just don‘t have in the private sector, or in the gig economy? that is a levelling down argument and it is one of the reasons why we have been calling on the government to get to grips with insecure contracts, protectjobs, and create new good ones. we would like to see real ambition from the government for an industrial strategy that delivers decent work for people in communities up and

down britain. i am sorry we have to live there because i know you have to be elsewhere. thank you very much for now, frances 0‘grady from the tuc. as promised, let‘s go through all the numbers with economics correspondent andy verity. just explain for anyone who didn‘t see it the announcements, the key points the announcements, the key points the chancellor is making here? really begot numbers today to put a scale on what we have known all year, that the economy really is on a wartime footing. in terms of what the spending is, we‘re spending more than we in peacetime. in march, for example, we were forecast to spend just £928 billion. may sound like a lot to you and me but it is nothing better what we have ended up spending. the official forecast now is that we are going to spend 1100 and £65 billion, more than £1 trillion for the first time, so public spending is going to be well over half the size of the economy, and that‘s the first time that‘s happened in peacetime. now of course if you are spending more than your

income, like anyone, you‘ve got to borrow the money to plug the hole between the two. back in march, it was forecast we would have to borrow £55 billion, which is manageable. thenin £55 billion, which is manageable. then in august, after it became apparent how much the government was spending, the official prediction was it was going to be £372 billion, and now the prediction is 394 billion, so over seven times as much as what we were borrowing back then, but ironically, because interest rates are so low, jane, it is actually more affordable to service that debt, even though it has grown seven times, then it was back in march. so we are actually saving money on servicing debt, so that underlines the fact it is not necessarily urgent to pay it back. that‘s interesting. talk us through some of the key measures, the announcements, and also some of the cuts, of course. compared to the numbers i have just cuts, of course. compared to the numbers i havejust given cuts, of course. compared to the numbers i have just given you, cuts, of course. compared to the numbers i havejust given you, it is small potatoes but will still make a big difference to some of those departmental budgets. for example the government has earmarked roughly

£4 billion per year extra for defence, and it has also said there will be a jobs programme to support people trying to find work, which works out at roughly £1.4 billion a year. but at the same time there are these cuts you have been discussing with frances 0‘grady from the tuc, also a cut in overseas aid is something that has been mooted and they are pressing ahead with, and public sector pay freeze for those. it is being noted that the higher paid skill payments are being paid less —— workers are being paid less than they are in the private sector. that is only at the lower paid elements they are paid more. so the people that are being protected in the public surface are particularly —— precisely those paid more in their private sector counterparts in their private sector counterparts in the better skilled people aren‘t being predicted. that is a huge part of all of this, that debate. they thought about occupational pensions as well. this has been of great concern who have pensions from

employees pension schemes, and each year their pension and payment will go year their pension and payment will 9° up year their pension and payment will go up in line with the retail prices index. the uk statistical authority doesn‘t like the retail prices index because it thinks it overstates inflation, and therefore these people have been getting higher than inflation pay rises and it wants changes so it is in line with the consumer prices index, including housing cost. it means their rises will be smaller each year. now, there was a move to start trying to index them according to cpih, it is changing rpi, so it is more like that, from 2025, rishi sunak said no, i‘m not going to give up my sanction and it will have to wait until 2030. so if you havejust started your pension you will still have a small increments after 2030 but until then you don‘t have to worry. rishi sunak calling this all about levelling up and talking about that infrastructure bank that he says will be opened in the north of england. i think the figure i saw

was about £4 billion going to be allocated to that, which will officially make a significant difference. 0n the other hand, there are these questions about whether other measures, such as the public sector pay cuts, are in fact levelling people down, so arguing because someone is worse off than someone else, you bring their pay down over time in real terms, rather than bringing other people‘s pay up. interesting arguments either side of that. 0ur political correspondent helen cattjoins me. let‘s discuss the politics of it all. she was listening to that statement from the chancel at lunchtime. let‘s start with the big picture. i know there is a row over the overseas development. we will talk about that in a second. in terms of the biggest picture, and what rishi sunak was trying to say to us all effectively, what did you ta ke to us all effectively, what did you take from it? i think it was a case of those numbers, those big numbers you have just heard from andy there setting the scene for the political decisions to come over the course of

this parliament. so the things that rishi sunak was very clear about what is yes, this is a big amount of money, and eye watering amount of money, and eye watering amount of money, the largest fall in output this yearfor 300 years. money, the largest fall in output this year for 300 years. the largest amount of borrowing we have ever had in peacetime. £400 billion. so really setting up the scene for what is to come over the next few years, and the fact he said this is an economic emergency onlyjust starting. we are looking at those rises in unemployment, so really we re rises in unemployment, so really were setting the scene, and the expectations are very sobering expectations are very sobering expectations for the politics to come, because of course if you are running upa come, because of course if you are running up a bill of that size, at some point you will have to pay it, and that is what is going to be looming over the government‘s policy making for the next few years, although rishi sunak equally clear today that now was not the time to be paying it back in earnest, because we are still running up that bill, so one more announcement of more money to help coronavirus. there were however some ways to tighten the belts, if you like, and the biggest one of those the biggest

public sector pay freeze, not for doctors, nurses or those who earn less tha n doctors, nurses or those who earn less than £24,000 a year, they will get £250 at least as a pay bonus, but everyone else is going to have their pay paused, was the phrase rishi sunak chose to use, rather than frozen. there were some elements of that but the big message was this is a big amount of money, it is still going up and this will set the scene for the next few yea rs. set the scene for the next few years. and how much unhappiness are you picking up on, in terms of that well trailed cut to overseas development? we knew it was coming, we thought it was coming anyway, but there is a lot of unhappiness, even within the government because my own party and its own backbenchers. yes, they were unhappy before and they are unhappy now that rishi sunak has confirmed that they are going to cut what is a legally binding target on spending 0.7% of gross national income on development spending, foreign aid. rishi sunak is going to reduce that this year cannot .5%.

the treasury saying it is temporary, depending on the fiscal situation, it should return the following year to 0.7%. but as you said, there has been a lot of backlash. we have seen already the resignation of one conservative minister, a minister in the fair office, baroness noakes, who resigned, saying that —— baroness suggs, who said this is an unprecedented global crisis. lots of concern, tory mp after tory mp getting up to express concern about the impact on the world‘s poorest, as labourdid, the the impact on the world‘s poorest, as labour did, the shadow chancellor did come as the snp have done. there isa did come as the snp have done. there is a lot of concern about this, and we will hear about that, notjust from the impacts of those in poorer countries but also i think there is a bit of concern about what it says about britain at a time when the uk is trying to really establish its place in the world. thank you helen catt for now.

just coming up to 18 minutes past 40. the headlines on bbc news... the cost of coronavirus — the chancellor paints the true scale of the economic crisis facing the country — with the economy due to contract by 11.4% — the biggest fall in output in over 300 years. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year — leaving 2.6 million people out of work. police in the west midlands say they are investigating an alleged attack by secondary school pupils in telford as a hate crime. west mercia police says it‘s aware of a video circulating on social media, which appears to show a pupil from the sikh community being pushed by two other boys before being struck a number of times in the head while on the ground.

the force has described it as a deeply distressing incident, which it is treating with the utmost seriousness. the equality and human rights commission says the home office unlawfully ignored warnings that changes to immigration rules would create "serious injustices" for the windrush generation. a report has concluded that the "hostile environment" policy, designed to deter "irregular" migrants from settling, has the effect of harming many people who were already living in the uk. it says there was a disproportionate impact on people from caribbean countries. the windrush generation came from the caribbean to the uk from 1948 to 1971. the home office said it was determined to "right the wrongs suffered" by them.

the duchess of sussex has revealed she suffered a miscarriage injuly. writing in the new york times, meghan markle said it had happened while she was caring for her son, archie — adding that the loss of a child was an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. they are both thought to have been keen to have another child, after their son archie‘s birth in may of last year. earlier this year at their home in california, meghan was pregnant. but then, as she has described in an article in the new york times, one morning injuly she felt a sudden cramp. "i knew as i clutched my first born child that i was losing my second. she describes the tears she and harry both shed and goes on, "losing a child means carrying

an almost unbearable grief. experienced by many, but talked about by few". it is worth pointing out that the miscarriage itself happened injuly at a time where, you know, they were not out of the headlines. you know, royal biographies being written about them. they could not escape the spotlight. and now we know, actually, the pain, as meghan says, the unbearable grief that, as a couple, they were going through. meghan is not the first member of the royal family to have a miscarriage. but she is the first to write about it. and she places it in the context of a year when so many have faced loss. it has been a year, she says, which has brought so many of us to our breaking points, whether through bereavement or the sharp divisions within societies. and she recommends a simple step, inspired, she says, by the interview she did in southern africa a year ago, when she was asked whether she was ok. thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if i'm 0k. but it's a very real thing to be

going through behind—the—scenes. that question, "are you 0k", is one from which she says we can all learn. as much as we may disagree, and as physically distanced as we may be at the moment, the duchess suggests that we are in fact more connected than ever because of what we have collectively endured in recent months. it is a powerful appeal, hiding the couple‘s personal sadness. nicholas witchell, bbc news. people across the uk are making plans for christmas after the leaders of all four nations agreed yesterday to relax coronavirus restrictions over the festive period, to allow people to spend time with loved ones. last night it was confirmed that across the uk, up to three households will be able to mix in each other‘s homes — but you can‘t go to pubs and restaurants. you will be allowed to travel to see family and you can go anywhere in the uk. the new rules cover justfive days from the 23rd the new rules coverjust five days from the 23rd to the 27th of december — and that‘s raised concerns over

people‘s travel arrangements. scientists and doctors have expressed concern that the easing of restrictions could lead to a spike in cases and eventual deaths. catherine burns reports. this year of separation is almost coming to a close. it is exactly a month until december 25th, but instead of a very merry christmas, we are being told to have a modest, limited and cautious time. but there will be a relaxation of the rules. from the 23rd of december to the 27th of december, you will be able to form a christmas bubble with up to two other households. so, for the five days of christmas, up to seven if you are travelling to orfrom northern ireland, most families will be able to celebrate together, but not exactly as normal. but vulnerable people might not want to take the risk. elaine cares for her husband michael, he has dementia, cancer, and diabetes.

i can understand people wanting to mix, of course they want to see their families. we do, i yearn to see my children. but, you know, if it is going to make michael poorly, or even me, because i am vulnerable too, then we have to go with the flow and do as we are told. coronavirus is still out there. yesterday, another 608 deaths were recorded, people who‘ve died within a month of testing positive for covid. effectively, what this would be doing is throwing fuel on the covid fire. i think it will definitely lead to increased transmission, it's likely to lead to a third wave of infection. and this is happening just as we are going into what is traditionally the busiest time of the year for the nhs, even without a pandemic. anything that happens on top of that would be an additional worry. so certainly a double whammy, in terms of covid and normal health pressure, and potentially a triple whammy, if we see any effects of the relaxation of restrictions.

and so the message isjust because we can do something, doesn‘t mean that we should. please think carefully, use it responsibly and then we will all of us not face the consequences in the new year that could overwhelm our nhs, and lead to real consequences in the lives of people who matter the most to you. when a number of people get together, there is always a risk that someone could be infected and not know it. the bigger the group, the bigger the risk, especially if they come from different households. the best thing you can have is this, fresh air, meeting outside, which isn‘t always easy in december. inside, maybe keep a window open. other things you can do to cut your risk, try to keep your distance. don‘t go around sharing plates of nibbles, and keep visits short. i am living a very isolated life as it is. i'm only meeting sort of half a dozen people week in, week out.

so i feel the risk is very low for me. a lot of people are not seeing it first hand, are they? so you know, if you are not seeing or hearing of anyone that has caught it or suffered from it, maybe you are thinking is it as bad as everyone makes out, you know? my mum, who is in her 80s, that is my concern. but at the same time the sort of mental health issue i think is really important as well. there's no point in doing this if suddenly the cases go back up again. all that sacrifice, all the lockdown would be in vain. you will still be able to meet people outside your bubble, but sticking to the rules of the tier your area is in. as for these christmas bubbles, they will burst before we ring in 2021. the question is, what kind of covid hangover we will have to deal with in january? catherine burns, bbc news. we will talk about that a bit more than just

we will talk about that a bit more thanjust a we will talk about that a bit more than just a moment. we will talk about that a bit more thanjust a moment. before we will talk about that a bit more than just a moment. before that, we will talk about that a bit more thanjust a moment. before that, we will just reflect a thanjust a moment. before that, we willjust reflect a little bit further on the spending review, everything we have been talking about today. specifically, we were chatting earlier about the considerable anger and disquiet around the cut in the development budget, and we‘ve just heard a few comments in from the former prime minister david cameron, expressing his concerns about fat cat. it has been cut from 0.7 to 0.5. he said it isa been cut from 0.7 to 0.5. he said it is a promise that we don‘t have to break. let‘s just hear some of what he has had to say. well, i think it isa he has had to say. well, i think it is a very sad moment. it‘s notjust that we are breaking a promise to the poorest people and the poorest countries in the world, a promise that we made and a promise that we don‘t have to break, it is that 0.7% commitment really said something about britain, saying that we were going spend that money helping the

poorest people in the world, not that we just care about tackling global poverty, climate change, helping people that don‘t have what they have in this country, but that we we re they have in this country, but that we were actually going to do something about it. we were going to show the rest of the world, we were going to lead, and i saw as prime minister of the effect of that leadership, what it brought to britain, as well as the amazing good it did, —— as prime minister, vaccinating children, stopping mother is dying of childbirth, these we re mother is dying of childbirth, these were brilliant things, and it said something brilliant about this country and it is sad i think that we are standing back from that. former prime minister david cameron talking about that announcement today around the development budget. we have had a foreign office ministerial resignation as well, in light of that announcement. we will talk more about that in the next half an hour. right now, with the time at 4:28pm, we will return to the story we were discussing, which is of course christmas and covid, the fact that the rules are a little

relaxed. let‘s discuss the potential impact of that. dr katherine henderson is the president of the royal college of emergency medicine. a very good afternoon to you. how concerned are you and your members about this five relaxation? we are already pretty busy. we are already into winter, we are seeing the usual winter busyness that we get in emergency departments, and we are already dealing with quite a lot of covid, and the hotspots are dealing with a lot of covid, so from our point of view, to actually have any increase in community transmission, and more cases coming into hospital, it would seem a very bad idea. so the actual announcement of a break isa the actual announcement of a break is a very bad idea, because, what, it‘s just too soon? is a very bad idea, because, what, it'sjust too soon? we haven't got a sustained decrease in cases. we need to make sure that we really on top

of this, and when we‘ve got a light at the end of the tunnel, why should we ta ke at the end of the tunnel, why should we take the risk of having an upsurge, may be needing a further lockdown, stopping being able to do other nhs work? so we‘ve been trying so hard to get non—covid—related nhs work up and running again. let‘s not ta ke work up and running again. let‘s not take a chance of causing an additional problem that perhaps we don‘t need to, and let‘s be very, very cautious about this. did you make those representations to ministers before they reached this decision? we don't have the opportunity to do that sort of thing. we can make the case for what is going on in emergency departments, and we do that all the time. we put out press releases about how busy we are. we have been putting out press releases about crowding and corridor care being back. we said last year we were reaching crisis point with this. we‘ve now got into a situation where everybody agrees that corridor care,

having a trolley in a corridor with somebody waiting to get to a bed, is a bad idea. it is clearly a massively bad idea during an infectious pandemic, yet we are in that situation already, we are seeing it creeping back. we have seen it in the last performance figures, that we have doubled the number of 12 hour waiting from this time last year. this is only november. really, to have a surge in cases is just not the right thing to do and we need to do absolutely everything to avoid that happening. if people are watching you this afternoon starting to plan christmas, starting to think about what they might do, who they might visit, whether they want to visit, what would your message to themby? think very carefully. think whether this is really necessary or something you would like to do, but actually, you know what? let‘s do it in february. let‘s have the most

fantastic valentines, let‘s make easter the best ever. let‘s be careful this time over christmas. very good to have your perspective, thank you very much. the president of the royal college of emergency medicine, thank you. we will talk more about that story specifically after five o‘clock and talk about it perhaps a little bit more before then as well as the latest on the spending review. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello, there. frost and fog are set to feature in our forecast for the next few days. some pretty chilly weather on the way, in fact it‘s going to be a cold night for most of us tonight. the remnants of a weather front providing cloud and some spots of rain to the far south—east of england and the channel islands. one or two showers elsewhere but largely some clear skies, allowing temperatures to drop down to around freezing — a touch below freezing in one or two places. could be the odd fog patch around tomorrow morning as well.

some of that fog could be quite slow to clear but then for most we‘re going to see some spells of sunshine. bit of patchy cloud, one or two very isolated showers and still this band of cloud and some patchy rain down towards the south east. temperatures though, they will struggle, five, six, seven, eight degrees in many places, perhaps double digits for south wales and south—west england. then through thursday night into friday, fog becoming quite widespread across england and wales, south—east scotland. a bit of patchy rain to north west scotland and northern ireland. some of that fog on friday morning could be slow to clear and it‘s going to be one of the coldest days we‘ve had for quite some time. hello this is bbc news, i‘m jane hill. the headlines: the chancellor points the true scale of the uk‘s financial crisis. the economy is forecast to shrink by 11.3% this year — the biggest fall in output in more than 300 years. today‘s spending review delivers on the priorities of the british people.

0ur health emergency is not yet over, and our economic emergency has only just begun. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it as a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. many key workers, who willingly took on so much responsibility during this crisis are now being forced to tighten their belts, now, not in the medium—term, to which the chancellor refers, now. unemployment is forecast to hit 7.5% next year — leaving 2.6 million people out of work. 0verseas aid is to be cut —— prompting the resignation of a foreign office minister.

and as the covid rules are eased for christmas —