this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines at 5pm — one of the greatest players of all time, football legend diego maradona has died at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attack. the cost of coronavirus — the chancellor paints the true scale of the 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 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 in july, 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 evening, and welcome to bbc news. one of the world's greatest ever footballers, diego maradona, has died at the age of 60. he reportedly suffered a heart attack. diego maradona was captain when argentina won the world cup in 1986, the tournament where he scored the famous hand of god goal to help eliminate england. andy swiss looks back at his life.

he was once described his half—angel, half—devil, and at his best, he was out of this world. he has players to his left and won't need any of them. oh, you have to say that's magnificent! diego maradona against england in 1986 with what was later voted the goal of the century. "he seemed to have the ball tied to his boots," said a team—mate. and yet in the very same match, he became one of sport's most notorious cheats. the two extremes of a tempestuous talent. growing up in the slums outside buenos aires, maradona became known as the golden boy. he wasjust 16 when he made his international debut, and in the 1982 world cup, the first signs of his flawed genius. two goals against hungary, a red card against brazil.

his displays earned him a world record transfer to barcelona and more breathtaking goals. but “119811, his temper snapped, with chaotic consequences. not for the last time, his skill overshadowed by scandal. but maradona's magic proved irrepressible. he flourished at his next club, napoli, and went to the 1986 world cup as his country's captain and talisman. in the quarterfinal, argentina faced england, and maradona made his mark in typically controversial style. maradona! replays showed he had scored with his arm, or the hand of god as he famously described it. well, certainly his arm was up. england fans were in uproar, but years later, maradona insisted he had no regrets. translation: i couldn't reach it and chilton was already there, so i couldn't head it. so i did like that. i believe it's a craftiness. maybe we have a lot more of it

in south america than in europe, but it's not cheating. just minutes later, though, we saw the other side of maradona. his stocky 5'5" frame ghosting through tackles with the pace and a poise which proved simply untouchable. his sublime skills guided argentina to the trophy. for a while at least, maradona was on top of the world. gradually, though, the dream started to sour. a tearful runner—up at the 1990 world cup before his behaviour became increasingly erratic. he once fired at photographers outside his home with an air rifle and arrived at the 1994 tournament with questions over his fitness. his answer seemed emphatic. maradona! but the celebrations hinted at the demons within. it emerged he'd failed a drugs test, and maradona was sent home in disgrace.

translation: i will say goodbye to football with an immense pain in my heart. and surely those who love me in argentina will be sharing my feelings. without football, maradona turned increasingly to cocaine. he began using the drug in the 1980s, but now in the 1980s, but now his addiction grew and his weight ballooned to more than 20 stone. in 2004, he was rushed to hospital after an overdose and spent several days in intensive care as fans prayed for their national icon. slowly, maradona recovered. in 2008, he was appointed argentina coach. he was unable to recapture his playing magic and was sacked after the world cup two years later, but his fame was enduring. even hosting his own tv show. with maradona, life was never dull. translation: i say i ought to thank the guy upstairs.

the beard, as i call him. he gives me opportunities, and i make the most of them. and i give my all to make the most of them. and for all his personal frailties, this is how he'll be remembered. maradona. .. going at them again! brilliant run by maradona! goal! unbelievable! the greatest player ever? well, that's for debate, but his brilliance is beyond dispute. in the last few moments we are reading from the afp news agency that the president of argentina has announced three days of national mourning. the argentinian president announcing three days of national mourning following the death of diego maradona, who had just turned 60. let's talk about the importance of him in the country with the south

american football expert tim vickery. that in itself tells its own story. three days of morning. vickery. that in itself tells its own story. three days of morningm certainly does. you can almost tell the history of south american football through the life of diego maradona. football is introduced into south america by the europeans, especially the british, full of first world prestige. it is reinterpreted by the locals, a more balletic game with a lower centre of gravity and that leads to international triumph and recognition for a part of the world thatis recognition for a part of the world that is starved of these things. so maradona, born on the wrong side of the tracks, a mixture of italian immigrants and indigenous, he was someone immigrants and indigenous, he was someone from a low birth who threw the meritocracy a football became a king of the global game. and give us a sense of how this is being received? he a sense of how this is being received ? he had a sense of how this is being received? he had been ill for a long time, nota received? he had been ill for a long time, not a well man and we might

come onto that so not quite the element of shock but still this is a huge nationalfigure who has been lost. yes, and he has been placed alongside religious icons in argentina. and he really did live out an argentine fantasy with those two goals, those two very contrasting goals that he scored against england in the 1986 world cup. it is almost a day when he becomes a god with disastrous consequences, i think. becomes a god with disastrous consequences, ithink. he is becomes a god with disastrous consequences, i think. he is living in the aftermath of that was never easy. some people in argentina and especially on the round the world but especially in argentina identified with him and they did all the more because of those frailties in those vulnerabilities and the times he has fallen down and got back up again. he will not be getting out from this one. how much sadness was there if that's the right world about the fact that he had so many demons to battle in

later life in particular? huge sadness. and i think part of the story of his demise at the age of 60 may well have to do with the lockdown that argentine football was suspended in the middle of march and did not resume again until his birthday, his 60th birthday on the 30th of october. he had been working asa 30th of october. he had been working as a coach on a first division side in argentina and needed the discipline. you take that away and he did not have to go to work every morning and there he is alone with his demons and it seems as if he has had problems with alcohol in the last few months. which has led to the emergency operation that he had just two weeks ago and clearly his much debilitated body could not live with the strain of the post operation. and what scenes would you expect to see now that we have three days of national mourning in

argentina? scenes of almost mass hysteria. it is a day everyone knew was going to come. it could have come a lot earlier. there were times when it seemed he was not going to be with us until his 60th birthday. but memories of 1986 are still very fresh in the argentine mentality. generations have grown up looking up to him, seeing him as an icon. there will be huge national sadness. this really is one of their own dying. this is the passing of someone from humble birth who has won international recognition so it's an immensely sad moment for the nation. and just looking to tim to see what further reaction is coming through about all of this. we have heard of course from pele saying it's sad to lose a friend in this circumstance.

i'm paraphrasing that is part of what pele had to say and i assume a reference to the years of ill health that he went through. but notwithstanding an icon nonetheless. yes, there has been tension between pele and maradona over who is the greatest ever and so on but at the end of the day, maradona does not just belonged to argentina in the same way that pele does notjust belong to brazil. for what they did on the football field, the two of them belong to the entire planet and will have a chance of the next few days to appreciate some of the things that maradona did on the field because with the legacy he has left us. tim vickery, thank you very much. art south america football expert they are, thank you very much indeed. tim isjoining us and it let's stay with this and return to the bbc sport newsroom and rejoin olly foster. a legend, the word we

are reading over and over again. not sure if tim mentioned it as i heard he came in talking about pele and fifa could not split between pele and maradona so they gave them both the award. for player of the century. the highest award for leading argentina to their second world cup triumph in 86 and the only world cup triumph in 86 and the only world cup triumph in 86 and the only world cup captain to win the golden ball as well for top score. the statisticsjust ball as well for top score. the statistics just back—up what an amazing player he was an obviously he had been very unwell for a number of years, fighting various illnesses and various addictions and obviously earlier this month he happily thought was a successful surgery for a clot on the brain. but the argentinian fa finally confirming the reports i have been swirling around for the last hour or so that arguably their greatest player because he did win the world cup with them has died at the age of 60.

how was he so good at five and a half feet, you think how on earth can he dominate some of the world's best players, how can he win so much is course of many goals? he just had a god—given talent. yes, he will be burdened with that hand of god phrase but it was in that coin that himself when he sort of coyly responded to the questions about did you hit that with your hand? he said it was a little bit the hand of god and a bit of my head as well. obviously it should not have stood but the hand of god makes the pele story all the richer really because you are missing remember him as well for that amazing goal that he scored to win that quarterfinal against england before they went on to the final and beat germany in 1986. and obviously his life in his career imploded in 1994 with a positive drug test at that usa tournament and

the various controversies after it but he made his mark at every club. i know crowds are gathering outside his home in buenos aris and they will be visuals there throughout the night i'm sure and so many tributes continue to pour in from the great in the good of the game who will beat so finally remembered. he turned natalie around. they were out of fashion and down on their luck when he joined them from barcelona for another world record fee but we are talking about £7 million. what did you get for that these days? he was truly one of the greatest and of course at times like this when we mourn the passing of great players from the genk the debate will start again but itjust gives us the chance to enjoy these pictures once again and remember him for what he was, a sublime talent and a gift to the game. yes, and you mentioned

napoli, the club putting out a statement saying devastating blow for both the city and the club. an interesting reading the comments from gary linacre and perhaps in england player who we think of is a bbc pundit but he had his career with england and saying by some distance maradona was the best player of my generation and he was arguably the greatest of all time. and that is a debate that football fa ns and that is a debate that football fans love to have. who is the greatest of all time and there'll be plenty saying that it is the man in the pictures we're looking at now. absolutely. that with the balljust seems to seems to stick to his feet and the ability to find a way out of corners when you think how on earth is going to get out of that and find his way through defensive players and only 34 goals but still a goal every three games or so and capped 91 times by argentina and made their captain obviously a legendary figure. and i was for this is argentina who have got lionel messi,

they can claim to have the greatest player of all time but maradona galvanise that argentina team. he drove them forward and won the world cup with them which lionel messi is not quite achieved yet with argentina. so a great but as the french paper described him after that 1986 game against england, half angel, half devil and that pretty much sums up his career, his life and cut short at just the age of 60 after several years of ill health. brought on by his various addictions. but like i say, jane, we dismember him for being a truly, truly brilliant talent on the pitch today. —— truly brilliant talent on the pitch today. — — we just truly brilliant talent on the pitch today. —— we just remember him. thank you very much. we will have our usual sports bulletin coming up a little after half past we will talk more about diego maradona. for

now the other major story here today. 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. ourfirst 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. our 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're 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 in our small businesses and on our high streets. an argument echoed by other opposition parties. 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 for those in the public sector who've enjoyed so much in this crisis and now we'll have a pay freeze. simply for the economy to survive, the chancellor's had to borrow and spend extraordinary amounts. there's no escape from the grim reality, which rishi sunak confirmed today would get worse before it gets better. jonathan blake, bbc news. let's speak now to the former conservative cabinet minister and chairman of the treasury select committee mel stride.

very good evening. good evening. did you ever think you would see a conservative government having to borrow 390 billion equipment if you would ask me that before march, certainly not. what has happened is one of the toughest external shocks to the uk outside of work time in our history and that has meant that huge amounts of money, rightly i think, has had to be spent in order to pump into the economy and support thejobs to to pump into the economy and support the jobs to the period. but as we have seen today from the earlier announcements, indications there are tough decisions now as to how the mould —— money will ultimately be paid back. and that's it. i wonder whether you feel anyone watching that statement at lunch time would have had any sense of how it's paid back, when it's paid back, over what period. well, what the chancellor has done today and i think he's

right to have done this, is not to have a spending review that looks down several years butjust to take the next year and that's what he is focused on. and the reason for that isi focused on. and the reason for that is i think there is huge uncertainty now around where the economy is going to go. it could mean that if the vaccine is rolled out very quickly and is effective that we could see a more rapid and positive uptick in the economy but it could mean that it is less successful and will be much tougher. and the second thing is i don't think we will be expecting the chancellor right now when we are trying to stoke the economy up and get it moving and recovering to be announcing for example tax cuts for further spending, tax increases i'm sorry, and further spending cuts. that has to wait a little bit longer. but they are inevitable ultimately, surely. yes, ultimately. we have seen surely. yes, ultimately. we have seen the figures today showing there will be a very large deficit going into next year and beyond and the

government will have to look at spending. it will have to do all that it can to help the economy but also willing to look at taxes and potentially tax rises to get that deficit down and under control. by the middle of next year, more than 2.5 million people will be without work. how confident are you that there is enough going on to try to help those people to try to get them back into employment?” help those people to try to get them back into employment? i think that's a very good question because what is happening or what has happened is there a number of businesses now that are being clearly damaged a number of sectors that have been very damaged in the economy will emerge in a different form to that that it was before. and what will really matter now is how quickly workers from one part of the economy where it's been contracting and the future is not so bright can move into other parts of the economy. and that's where i think the previous announcements actually the chancellor made around supporting

apprenticeships and putting money particularly into 16—24 —year—old workers looking for work and the additional support through job centres to make sure that people are given the support and face—to—face contact they need to get into those newjobs. all of contact they need to get into those new jobs. all of that contact they need to get into those newjobs. all of that is very important but there is no doubt that it is very tough going currently. important but there is no doubt that it is very tough going currentlym terms of the cuts to oversee spending, it was expected but it was a manifesto commitment. how queasy are you that a commitment in the ma nifesto are you that a commitment in the manifesto has been broken? clearly it's far from optimal to manifesto has been broken? clearly it's farfrom optimal to be breaking any it's farfrom optimal to be breaking a ny ma nifesto it's farfrom optimal to be breaking any manifesto commitment but i think one has to recognise here that the world that we have gone into with this virus is not far off the consequences of war time. if you look at similarly difficult statistics about what is happening at the moment, you have to go back to the second world war to find things equally as bad or perhaps

worse. and i think under those circumstances, is not unreasonable for the government to have a look at various things which may ultimately mean those manifesto commitments unfortunately... that's the point is voters will understand the context which you have outlined but they will think if you could break one, you could break a whole lot of commitments. that something where government will have to communicate quite clearly why in this particular case the chancellor felt it necessary to do that. there are other areas in the manifesto of course where income tax and... the government is the rates of those will not rate —— rise. they amount to two thirds of the tax taken in the uk so it may well be that those are taxes have to be looked at as well. but i think the main point here is we are in a very difficult

territory compared to even the earlier part of this year. thank you very much, the conservative chair of the treasury select committee. thank you and let's go to westminster. our political correspondent helen cattjoins me. again the sheer scale of this, obvious to everybody now and mel stride acknowledge and it will be very painful conversations about how it is all paid for. as you said, it has been obvious to everyone for months that there would be a huge effect on the economy. you only have to look at shuttered shops and cafes to look at shuttered shops and cafes to see that. today we saw those eye watering massive figures to put on it. so the context of the largest drop in output for 300 years, the largest amount of borrowing ever in peacetime. what this does is to set the backdrop for all of the political decisions the government is going to have to make over most of if not all of its time in

government, suggestions economy might not go back to the levels it was three covid—19 until 2022. that's quite a long way into this parliament and the spirit of government. for this to be the context against which they have to make all those policy decisions in the future and if you heard mel stride say they are, it's excepted well that at some point taxes are going to have to be risen. otherwise isa going to have to be risen. otherwise is a way to pay back some of the built but the chancellor today say now not the time for that. but we saw some measures to sort of caught the costs and the biggest of those being a public sector pay freeze was on the bbc understands that freese will affect 1.3 million people for the treasury talking about this in terms of it being an issue of fairness with the private sector have suffered very badly this year and it would not be fair therefore to have an across—the—board pay increase for public sector workers. there are some exemptions to this as doctors and nurses will not have their pay frozen and there will be

for the 2.1 million who are less than the median average ways of £24,000 will be guaranteed at least eight £250 pay rise. but of course there than those who said the poster has been at the forefront of keeping things going during the pandemic and this is no way to reward them and labour also saying if you start to ta ke labour also saying if you start to take money out of the pockets of things like firefighters then that means they will have less money to spendin means they will have less money to spend in the shops and that will not help the economy in the long term overall. so there have been some ways of cutting cost and of course he oversees a budget is a really big one. but at the moment it is still a case of running up the bill for that is starting to pay it back. and on overseas aid it, how much disquiet and perhaps more the disquiet are you picking up on? there is a decent backlash on that. obviously labour and the snp immediately questioned how it would affect the world's portion that has been picked up on with the conservative back benches

asa numberof with the conservative back benches as a number of them and even a resignation from a minister in the foreign office resigning over the cut if you thought it was fundamentally wrong and that that money should be given in times are tough and not just money should be given in times are tough and notjust in money should be given in times are tough and not just in the money should be given in times are tough and notjust in the good times. also pointing out this was unprecedented globally and the treasury would say people here are struggling at home and they point out that this is generous with the money the uk gift to foreign aid compared to other countries and the treasury spokesman suggesting that if any crisis is going be the kind of crisis where you look again at these kind of commitments, the biggest economic hit since the 18th century seems like a valid one. just heard as well for a mel stride there. but there is a considerable amount of disquiet about this on the back benches and again in terms of how it will impact on the world's ports but also how will impact on how britain is viewed in the world ata time how britain is viewed in the world at a time when we have left the european union and are about to leave the single market and the customs unit and britain is trying

to establish itself in a new way on the world stage and how does this get viewed. that was brought up by david cameron the former prime minister who was very committed to this 0.7% figure now being revived up this 0.7% figure now being revived up to 0.5%. he said it was a cut the did not need to be made and was a very sad moment and said maintain a commitment had really said something about britain. helen, for now, thank you at westminster. the weather, here is ben. clear skies tonight at a touch of frost and pretty chilly. one or two fog patches as well. a band of cloud plugging the odd southeast and the odd spot of rain gives us some after class we will not get quite as cold but for many of the spots the skies are but for many of the spots the skies a re clear but for many of the spots the skies are clear and the pictures are very close to freezing or a couple of degrees below in some places. a cold start to it tomorrow morning. sun fob patches which could be very slow

to clear actually but most of it and for the majority we see some spells of sunshine is still extra cloud to the southeast of england and the channel islands with temperatures may be 10—11 in western answer and parts of her most stuck in single digits. a cold night to come on thursday as well and a bit of rain to the far northwest and elsewhere fog likely to be quite dense and quite widespread into friday morning with some of that fog lingering for a good part of the date and it is going to be a very chilly indeed.

hello this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines. one of the greatest players of all time, football legend diego maradona has died at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attack. the cost of coronavirus: the chancellor reveals the scale of the financial crisis. the economy is forecast to shrink by 11.3% this year — the biggest fall in output in more than 300 years. a pay freeze in england forjust under half of public sector workers — labour describes it as a ‘sledgehammer blow‘ for consumer confidence. 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 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 injuly — writing in an article of feeling "an almost unbearable grief". more now on the news that one of the world's greatest ever footballers, diego maradona, has died at the age of 60. let's speak to our sports correspondent olly foster. reaction correspondent olly foster. come in and all the tim thick reaction come in and all the time. thick and fast as you might imagine. it was only in the last hour or so that we learned that diego maradona had died at the age of 60. had been u nwell had died at the age of 60. had been

unwell had brain surgeryjust a few weeks ago. died in hospital. also being treated for alcohol addiction. one of his many addictions but obviously, seeing the pictures there of that goal from 1986 which we will remember him for. the court of final victory against england. his first goal the hand of god goal. how did that happen? only a few years later that happen? only a few years later that he admitted he had used his hand. he knew it was the illegitimate straightaway. but in that same game does four minutes later, one of the most sublime goals. voted perhaps the greatest world cup goal of all time in that two —— one victory against england. that he would go on to be the leading scorer in mexico, 1986 was up leading scorer in mexico, 1986 was up the only captain in the world cup winning side to do that at a tournament. it's worth remembering the absolute uproar there was at the time after that hand of god goal against england. obviously that amazing goal he scored as well in

relations between the argentinian and the english fa or strained to say the least. in the last few moments, the football association released a statement by the chief executive says on behalf of the faa, our deepest condolences but go to diego maradona and his family and friends. the argentine football association and the argentinian people as well as all the clubs he served. undoubtedly, one of the finest footballers to ever play the game was up finest footballers to ever play the game was up his remarkable achievements on the global stage will never be forgotten. it's important today that we celebrate his football genius and mourn his passing at the age ofjust 60. of course, i think the inference they are is that we will remember the controversy away from the pitch. he tested positive for steroids at the 1994 world cup in the usa. his life and career imploded around that time. a long—running battle with cocaine addiction, as well. alcohol

addition, a piece of the hip been very u nwell addition, a piece of the hip been very unwell for a number of years. but i think today allows us to look backin but i think today allows us to look back injust but i think today allows us to look back in just remember but i think today allows us to look back injust remember him but i think today allows us to look back in just remember him for what a wonderful player he was was up in absolute icon in argentina. perhaps the greatest of his generation. four world cups. the president of argentina in the last half—hour saying that there will be three hours, three days of mourning for diego maradona, the great footballer. one of the greatest. in that number ten, that playmaker role. and i'm sure of the coming hours and days they will be many more tributes paid to him. ollie, thank you very much. as ali was reflecting, argentine is president announcing three days of national mourning. following the death of

diego maradona at the age of 60. we will have continuant reaction to his death throughout the evening here on bbc news. for now i want to return to coronavirus and just update you. we just to coronavirus and just update you. wejust in the to coronavirus and just update you. we just in the last few minutes had the new uk wide figures. the number of people have died with coronavirus. and these guests and i'm being told are the highest daily figure since april. 696 deaths recorded in a 24 hour period. that co m pa res recorded in a 24 hour period. that compares with 608 the day before. so 696 the latest 24 hour period was of the highest there since april. and in terms of the number of reported cases, 18,213 reported cases in the

last 20 for our period. those the latest figures there in terms of coronavirus. latest figures there in terms of coronavirus. the chancellor, rishi sunak, has been setting out the government's spending plans for the year ahead. big announcements but also crucially laying bare just what coronavirus has done to the uk economy. let's talk through some of those figures. one of the things in fact that rishi sunak talked about was leveling up the economy. can we hear a little bit from rishi sunak who is been talking in the last little while? and fact, let's hearfrom and fact, let's hear from the chancellor. and fact, let's hear from the chancellor. so what you saw today from the forecast is our economy has faced an enormous stress and painted a very sombre picture of what's happened to our economy right now.

with regard to the bricks and negotiations, the negotiations are ongoing, they are intense and people are working very hard. and we remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement with our european partners. i think there is a spirit of goodwill and constructive action on all sides, we can get there, we've always been very transparent and consistent but we need which is not much more than any other country has asked of the eu. so i remain hopeful that we can reach that. to pay the bills, you broken your manifesto promise on international aid. five former prime ministers and the archbishop of canterbury opposed it. the international minister has quit. you have called it a tough choice but is actually morally wrong? in the context of what we are seeing which is an economy under enormous stress and record, peace time record borrowing and debt levels, i think it's right that we focus on the british people's priorities and that has meant i've had to make some tough decisions to enable that to happen. and that means temporarily we won't meet our 0.7% commitment to international aid but

we will still spend £10 billion supporting the poorest countries across the world next year, making us one of the most generous countries out of any other country and that comes on top ofa record settlement for our armed forces. and they also play a vital role in humanitarian missions all around the world so we should hold or heads apart and be very proud of the role that britain is playing to help the world's poorest. asi as i was reflecting in that spending review the chancellor also announced the uk infrastructure bank. it'll be open to the north of england to help finance major building and transport projects. finance major building and transport projects. let's speak to steve rotheram the labour metro mayor of the liverpool city region, hejoins me now. hello, good evening. what positives we re hello, good evening. what positives were in this spending review for you as far as you're concerned? not an awful great deal to tell you the truth. i think the chance here

period has come to a crashing end and he failed to recognise a number of things. one is around leveling up, the other thing about key workers that stop this country going into total lockdown for those people not to be recognised, the teachers, firefighters, police officers and third, his total abandonment of the 3 million people who have self employed and freelance workers who have been excluded and forgotten. it's nothing short of a scandal of his own making. and yet, he hasn't fulfilled many of those manifesto pledges that you refer to. st certainly leveling up, we've had nine figure for billion pounds it's more likely to be for billion pounds which is competitive funds in it'll bea which is competitive funds in it'll be a contest of tory mps going to see the chancellors with their pet

projects. it is that found that i was driving out with my question. have you been given any details? do you have any sense of what could potentially come your way, of how this could benefit your region? what do you know? we haven't. and there has been no discussion but of course, we have a number of excellent projects that we have in our pipeline. absolutely ready, spade ready as the prime minister would call them for delivery over the next few weeks. if we got £100 million i could guarantee that we could get those projects off the ground within days. to have a fund announced in eye watering song, but when you look be hind the details of what's been announced, at £600 million in the first year it's a competitive round. i can't see an awful lot of way happening for many, many months if not years. actually

what we need now is the country to start towards free coverage and then growth. i'm sorry. time is against us growth. i'm sorry. time is against us by thank you for your time. we will talk again about all of that when we know more about what is planned. let's also talk about the development and aid issues. we've been reflecting on that ministerial resignation at the foreign office. because the overseas aid budget being cut from not .7% to not .5. is the decision to cut the overseas aid budget, breaking a conservative manifesto pledge made only a years ago. i'm joined now from westminster by conservative member of parliament tobias ellwood, the defence committee chairman. breaking of eight manifesto commitment how queasy does that make you feel? it makes me feel very uneasy and you rolled off the list of people who are concerned about

this former prime ministers and so forth. i'm pleased with investment in hard part. it does mean we can defeat the enemy where we have to. but in places and regions where there is conflict and instability, we need to be unable to the local. the indigenous populations, it's so important indeed. we are very, very good at this ability to co—opt rather than cores. to lead through persuasion and to positively influence others. where arguably the best in the world. for us to retreat in this way will leave consequences. i worry that from the perspective of the uk, the inference that we have in the world is actually not fully understood. and the consequences of this —— influence. increased poverty and instability. i'm afraid we also allowed china and russia to take advantage to the vacuum of support we provide across the world. they we re we provide across the world. they were moving very quickly indeed. note date was given as to when that

decision it might be reversals out when it might go back to the not .7. could some of the anger and the upset have been mollified a bit if you had seen that it was for a short, very specific. ? yes. i certainly would be, i'd like more information. i'm not sure if this is a one—off which are allowed to do under the current legislation. because of the financial pressures. but we do need to better educate i think, all of us on how well targeted aid pays for itself many times over. it eases poverty, it educates and builds human resources, it slows migration and reforms justice. creates markets that we can actually benefit from from our prosperity perspective. it also denies extremism from flourishing. and this comes at a very interesting juncture when we've got a new occu pa nt juncture when we've got a new occupant in the white house, joe

biden determined to re—energize western resolves to regroup. to bring us all together, to stand up to some of the threats and challenges that are growing across the world. and yet, here's is claiming global britain by taking a retrograde step back and that every year that we are hosting the g—7 presidency. briefly, some voters will agree while they? they will think i'm a look at our unemployment, look at our debt now. more than two and half million are going to be unemployed by the next year we are told. charity begins at home some people may say.|j year we are told. charity begins at home some people may say. i fully understand that i appreciate that. but we also need to recognise the pain that we are enduring here is being entered in those poorer countries as well. in the problems that those countries will then start to appreciate will probably come back and haunt us in the long term. so we are building up issues. i think it wasjim mattis that said, the less you spend on aid the more he had to spend on ammunition. because you create instability, you create insecurity which will be

exploited by extremism. he exploited by those who have very different agendas to ours was up that's why i disagree with the steps be made today. it's about british leadership. thank you very much for your time. we will turn into the specifics of coronavirus and notably around the easing of restrictions at christmas. we've been answering lots of your questions about this stop my colleague annita mcveigh was joined by rofessor sian griffiths who is an epidemic specialist and epidemiologist at the chinese university of hong kong. and professorjonathan ball professor of molecular virology at the university of nottingham. thanks very much to john for the sport. right now, let's talk about christmas. leaders of all four uk nations are urging caution as they relax virus restrictions. up to three households will be

allowed to stay together and form a christmas bubble from the 23rd to december 27th. many of us have questions about this. and here to answer some of them are professor sian griffiths, who's an epidemic specialist and epidemiologist at the chinese university of hong kong, and professorjonathan ball, professor of molecular virology at the university of nottingham. jonathan and sian. welcome to both of you. thank you for agreeing to answer our viewers questions again, so many of them on the subject of christmas. so i'll begin with you, jonathan. and a very important question from ian ashmore from somerset. "could you clarify if the rule of three households getting together over christmas means you have to stick to the same three households or you can have different ones on other days? " it's very, it's very clear the guidance is that once you've decided that three households that you wish to socialise with and over that five day period, you have to stick to those same households. there's no leeway there,

you can't simply change your mind and think, you know, "i wish that i'd chosen auntie mabel and uncle fred." you've got to stick with the original choice. ok, a christmas bubble, very clear. karen asks sian this question for you. "i have two sons away at university, one in york and one in brighton. they each share a house with five others as they're away for the majority of any year. it's considered the university housemates are their family, and therefore each son is considered one of the three families we can mix with over the festive season. they're hoping to return home around mid—december, depending on any possible travel restrictions in the area areas they live in. i also have an elderly father who will want to spend time with us, and my husband is high risk and has previously been shielding." i hope you can clarify this for me, asks karen. 0k, thank you, karen. let me start with your sons. the general guidance is that once students get home and they'll be coming home from university during the first week of december, if they've tested negative.

once students are home, they're considered part of their home household with their parents, because there are lots of questions about this. and so your sons become part of your household. if your father is living alone and there is a capacity to happen within your bubble anyway because the bubbles still exist, the bubbles that exist within the tier system. so your father can be with you and your husband, i'm not sure whether he's clinically extremely vulnerable in that smaller group or was vulnerable and shielded because the rules of vulnerability and shielding changed when the tier system came in initially. it's felt that as long as people take extra precautions, are just careful, then they don't need to be in the shielded group any more. it's only a smaller group. so, within your complex household, you have people such as your husband and your father who are at increased

risk so you can all gather together. but you obviously need to think about social distancing, hygiene, keep the windows open some of the time if it's not too difficult to do that. just reduce the risks internally, in the household in your bubble. and i hope you have a nice christmas like that. just to clarify. so, the two sons at two different universities, once they're home, that doesn't count as three households, that is one household? that's as i understand it, because the students are going to be tested before they leave or there's capacity there for students to be tested, there's a travel corridor for students who are coming home from university earlier. so they should, by december 23, have been cleared of covid. so going into the bubble with other people is ok. so i think that's part of the tier system. ok, and jonathan, you're nodding to that as well. and jonathan, a very similar

question actually from marianne, a dilemma with three adult children, one returning from university two weeks before. "is it two households or three? i don't know if the child that comes back from uni will count as my household. how can i choose which children come? i can't. hashtag christmas bubbles. " so based on what sian said, the returning child, the child returning from university, will be part of her household. one household, is that right? yeah, no, that's absolutely right, the guidance is very clear that any student returning from a university as soon as they arrive back home, they're immediately part of that household. and i think sian rightly pointed out it's really important for students up and down the country. there is a massive amount of effort being put in to offer them coronavirus testing before they leave. there's a lot of in—house testing in various universities, but also the government have invested in what we call these lateral flow assays. they may be 2like the sensitivity

of some of the other assays, but they should give a good indication as to whether or not that student is coronavirus free. and if they have the test and they‘ re negative, then they're encouraged to leave as quickly as possible. but, you know, always bear in mind that it's not guaranteed to to prove that you're negative, always be aware. so if you develop symptoms, things like that, when you return from university, that always ensure that you then get tested. but, you know, again, i have an enjoyable and safe christmas. ok, i'll put this one to you as well, jonathan, from mary pain. over christmas, i run a private kindergarten in south east london. we return to school on january 4th. is this wise so soon after all the mixing between the 23rd and december 28th, should i stay closed for another week so that it's closer to 14 days after the event? do you know if the government is looking at this? certainly i don't know whether the government are looking at that particular approach to minimize the risk of transmission in the education school setting at the moment, they're very clear that they don't want to interrupt education, whether that's university schools,

nurseries. i think it's incredibly important for children to to continue to enjoy as normal an education as possible. so i would be surprised if they do encourage additional closures. but let's see how the advice and the guidance evolves, because, you know, there are still some areas that may be lack sufficient clarity. no doubt we will get more guidance over the next few few days. hello, good evening. frost and fog feature in our forecast for the next few days. some of the coldest weather of the autumn so far in fact. on the satellite picture you can see you can see this type of cloud. that brought some patty rain particularly across

parts of england today. clear skies and showers following behind filled up but also some cooler air pushing its way down from the north. i mention clear skies, it was a beautiful end to the day for this weather watcher. we keep those clear skies in many areas through the night. still one or two showers around particular he across northern north west england, north wales, and this band of cloud struggling to clear away from parts of camp. it will stay rather cloudy and a little bit milder here. similarly for the channel islands but for most bots clear skies, temperature is getting close to freezing or below freezing in places. a few fog patches around as well. but this area of high pressure is starting to extend its influence towards the british isles. that means lots of dry weather over the coming days. but with light winds, any fog patches we have first thing will struggle to clear. most of them should and then we will see some spells of sunshine. very small chance for a shower across the northern half of the uk still this band of cloud in old weather front and parts of the far southeast.

temperatures well, maybe double digits in the west but for most it will be highs between five and 9 degrees. during thursday night it's gonna be another cold one. this frontal system bringing some rain into the far northwest. but away from here southern scotland, england, wales we will see some quite widespread, dense fog patches one or two places could stay foggy for a good part of the day for the up and that really will take the temperatures back to top even if you get some brightness, sunshine highs ofjust seven or 8 degrees. so that sets us up for quite a chilly start to the weekend. high pressure still quite close by but an area of low pressure trying to squeeze its way in from the southwest. it's going to freshen up the breeze across southwestern areas. it's also going to introduce some slightly milder air. temperatures in the southwest of england for example into double digits through the weekend. five for most of us spots particularly north and east it stays very chilly. largely dry but with some overnight

frost and some patchy fog.

today at six — the chancellor's stark assessment of the cost of the pandemic on the uk's economy. he says it will do lasting damage — more borrowing than at any point in the uk's peacetime history. our health emergency is not yet over. and our economic emergency has only just begun. in its response to this pandemic the conservative government has wasted and mismanaged public finances on an industrial scale. we'll be loooking at the impact on people and places, including the 2.5 million expected to be out of work next year. also tonight... going at them again, brilliant run