this is bbc news. the headlines: wales faces tougher new corona restrictions — pubs across the country will be banned from selling alcohol in the run up to christmas. singer rita ora has apologises for breaching lockdown rules, the prime minister "every member of the public, including celebrities" should follow the rules. borisjohnson calls for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he tries to head off a rebellion over his new tier system in england. coronavirus infections in england have fallen by about a third. some of the worst—hit areas see the biggest improvements — but experts warn the figures are still too high. moderna is filing for us and european emergency regulatory approval of its coronavirus vaccine so that it can be recommended for widespread use. thousands ofjobs at risk as sir philip green's retail empire, which includes topshop, burton and dorothy perkins, verges on collapse.

and coming up before 3 o'clock: wildlife cameras show beavers back and building theirfirst dam on exmoor in hundreds of years. welsh pubs, restaurants and cafes will be banned from serving alcohol from friday and will be unable to open to customers beyond six o'clock this evening, as part of new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases. between one thousand and 17—hundred deaths are feared if this action isn't taken, according to the first minister wales mark dra keford. in this afternoon's other developments, a spokesman for the prime minister has said it's "important that everybody in society sets an example" as rita ora says she's "deeply sorry" about the 30th birthday party she held at the weekend. coronavirus infections in england have fallen

by about a third over lockdown, according to a major study. the highly respected "react—1" study found a 30% fall in infections between 13th and 24th november. it says the virus‘s rate of reproduction is below one, meaning the epidemic is shrinking. as can be seen from this graph. the r number has been below 1 for the first time since september. this means on average that every infection translated to less than one other new infection, so the epidemic is shrinking. meanwhile boris johnons is urging disgruntled conservative mps to show "unity" and "resolve". he's publishing an impact assessment to try to assuage their fears over planned restrictions when the national lockdown ends. our wales correspondent tomas morgan reports. since march, pryzm, ca rd iff's largest nightclub, has been open for only six days. with a capacity for 3,000 usually, current restrictions, table service and social distancing,

has limited the venue to just 240. but from friday, alcohol will be banned from being sold in venues across wales and hospitality will have to shut at 6pm, which means this place will have to close again. it's a lot of hard work to get everything right, train the staff, get the building sorted out, make it safe and secure for our customers to enjoy. so, yeah, mega—frustrating, and obviously it's costly and we've had no support from the government for nightclubs specifically. so, yeah, it's a major kick in the teeth, really. infection rates, and more importantly, the positivity rate of coronavirus in wales has risen over the past week or so, and in many areas of south wales, it's higher now than they were before the recent firebreak lockdown. which has led to the welsh government implementing further restrictions, and another financial package to support the industries affected.

we will provide the most generous package of financial assistance anywhere in the united kingdom. this will include £180 million of new help specifically for tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses, and that's in addition to the various support schemes available from the uk government. along with hospitality, cinemas and indoor entertainment will also have to close in an effort to curb transmission rates. these latest set of restrictions coming into force on friday will be reviewed every three weeks. but with an agreement already in place between the devolved nations of the uk over easing between household mixing over the festive period, it seems unlikely that these latest set of measures in wales will be eased before christmas. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. the singer rita 0ra has apologised for holding a 30th birthday party celebration at a restaurant in west london on saturday with a group of friends in breach

of coronavirus restrictions. posting on instagram, the singer described it as an "inexcusable error ofjudgement". the metropolitan police confirmed that they were called to the casa cruz restaurant in notting hill to investigate a potential breach of covid regulations and officers were seen this morning at the venue of the party. borisjohnson has called for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he hopes to head off a conservative rebellion over plans to introduce a three tier system of coronavirus restrictions in england. later today he will publish an official impact assessment of the measures which will include the economic, social and health costs of the tiers. 0ur political correspondent chris mason reports. the bleak reality of england's second lockdown. it is due to end on wednesday, but there are concerns the tiered system of restrictions that will come next will be painful too. some conservative backbenchers are making the government work hard for their support. it's quite right that parliament does its oversight role,

it scrutinises what is being put forward to see whether we can advance the proposals to a better place. a public that understands and respects the rules is more likely to follow them, and compliance is so important if you want to get through this. here's a quick reminder of the three tiers coming in england. the lightest tier, tier 1, will only apply in cornwall, the isle of wight and the isles of scilly. 32 million people will be in tier 2, where meeting inside each other‘s homes will be banned. and 23 million people will be in tier 3, where restaurants and pubs, among other places, will have to remain closed. but shops, hairdressers and gyms will reopen across england. we shouldn't stumble at this last hurdle. we have had to take some very difficult decisions. we need to see this through and stick to the course for now, but we will be giving parliament a say on the review of these measures later in january. i am currently in the restaurant

at the minute and you can see perspex screens between each table. labour leader keir starmer has been on a virtual visit to a restaurant in what will be tier 3 manchester. here we are, with the same old same old, which is restrictions being put in place, but the financial package not being ready to go with it. it is exactly the same. one of my main criticisms of this government is that they have been very slow in their decision—making but they are not learning lessons. in the end, though, it is highly likely labour will back the government. the prime minister will get his way, this new system of tiered restrictions in england will come into force. but there is deep restlessness among many conservative backbenchers, real worry about the hospitality industry, deep concern about the wider economic devastation, and fears about how long this squeeze on our liberties could last. the government has clocked that and is seeking to reassure. so, the debate in here will be

passionate, even if the outcome won't be a surprise. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. coronavirus infections in england have fallen by about a third over lockdown, according to a major study. some of the worst—hit areas saw the biggest improvements — but, despite this progress, cases remained relatively high. the "react—i" study found a 30% fall in infections between 13th and 24th november. it says the virus‘s rate of reproduction is below one, meaning the epidemic is shrinking. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. lockdown has been described as a blunt instrument. it can damage the economy, mental health, but new research suggests england's most recent one has dented the epidemic. during november's lockdown more than 100,000 people from different backgrounds were tested for covid—19, whether they had symptoms or not. this is the best way to get an idea of how prevalent the virus is and gives us the most up—to—date

picture of what's going on. the study found between the end of october and the middle of november cases of coronavirus fell by 30%. and infections fell by more than half in the north—west and north—east — areas with some of the highest numbers of cases. the findings suggest cases are now highest in the east and west midlands. we're still at 1%, which means one in 100 people that we test randomly has evidence of virus on a nose and throat swab. so clearly that's still too high. and in the north the rates were much higher than that, they were over 2%. the r number tells us how many people one infected person may pass the virus on to. the react study estimates it's fallen to 0.88, which means the epidemic is shrinking. as this graph shows, it's the first time it's happened since september. but a great deal of caution

accompanies the positive findings. despite clear improvements, cases remain high and there is a lag between falling infections translating into hospitalisations and deaths. the data suggests october's tier system and the lockdown helped curb infections, but as we approach a challenging time of yearfor as we approach a challenging time of year for the health service, as we approach a challenging time of yearfor the health service, many are nervous about the changing rules. there is potential for the relaxation of the restrictions over christmas to see a push of cases into january and sadly we will see deaths as a result of that. so, i appreciate why the government are doing this in terms of giving people the choice about how they want to behave with their families over christmas, but i would urge people to be very cautious. there is potential good news about one of the vaccines. moderna's filed for regulatory approval in the us and europe and the jab is said to be

more than 94% effective. i even if one vaccine is approved soon, it will be months before they take effect. for now our behaviour is key to keeping the virus at bay. rita 0ra said she is sorry for breaking lockdown rules. 0ur arts correspondentjoins me now. tell us what's happened. well, front-page news thid, rita 0ra, police were called to what was considered to be an inlegal gathering at —— illegal gathering in london. she talks of a serious and inexcusable error of judgment. she said that it is, she is embarrassed by what has happened, but she says it doesn't make it right. she apologises for breaking

the lockdown rules with the gathering at this restaurant in notting hill on saturday night, celebrating her 30th birth day. the statement said i attended a small gathering, it was a spur of the moment decision made with the misguided view that we were coming out of lockdown and this would be 0k. out of lockdown and this would be ok. i'm sorry for breaking the rules and understand that this puts people at risk. this was a serious and inexcusable error of judgment. that is her statement on instagram made in the last few minutes. we are hearing that borisjohnson is getting involved. he says that it was important that everybody in society sets an example. he said enforcement is a matter for police and who would enforce the rules in and who would enforce the rules in an appropriate and proportionate manner. but the message is celebrities have a role to play in this? absolutely. setting, well, if it is seen to be one rule for one

and one rule for another, it what an impact on the rules. police have powers to bring about fines if they believe that a lockdown breach has actually happened. so it is front —page news and this gathering was inexcusable and wrong and it is certainly something that she is deeply apologising for. do we know if there is a potential fine for what she is accused of breaching. that would be down to what a small group of friends actually means. the scale of the party, that has not been clear. but we know that meeting any more than one person outside and at home at the moment is against the rules, against the law, because of the lockdown rules. london will be going into tier 2. that's not

happened yet. a question about how far it broke the law. but what that is is up to the police. thank you. sir philip green's retail empire arcadia is likely to call in administrators today — putting 13,000 jobs at risk. sources at the company — which owns retailers including topshop, burton and dorothy perkins — say they don't expect a last—minute rescue deal. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. in liverpool, shop workers arrive early, wondering what the future holds. the arcadia brands are on so many high streets and town centres, like here in hull and cheshire. the lockdowns have hit this business hard, but it was failing long before the pandemic. topshop, though, which was the jewel in the crown, has struggled to survive against disruptors like online boohoo group, and on the high street, primark have come in with different offers, more value—led offers and a better conversation with the consumer of today.

0vershadowed by online rivals. boohoo has already snapped up other failed high street brands. could topshop soon be next? from what we're hearing, there is interest in these brands and if the group goes into administration today i think there will be a lot of interested parties in buying up some of those brands, but some of the interested parties wouldn't necessarily want those stores. part of the problem arcadia has had is that a lot of stores have not been profitable and they haven't been able to get out of the long leases they are signed up to. sir philip green is in monaco, but there was no sign of him today on his superyacht. he made his fortune from retail, but he tarnished his reputation — hauled in front of mps to fix the huge hole in the bhs pension schemes after it collapsed. it's resolvable, sortable, we will sort it, we will find a solution, and i want to give an assurance to the 20,000 pensioners, i am there to sort this.

but will he do the same for the arcadia pension scheme and its £350 million deficit? either sir philip puts his hand in his pocket and writes what would be a big cheque even for him, orthe pension scheme members stay in the government lifeboat, the pension protection fund, and they will get compensation representing not their full pension, but the majority of it. it all looks pretty festive, but there will be little to celebrate this christmas for the 13,000 or so workers. you can see some of them are in the stores today getting ready for the reopening. so many retailjobs have already been lost, but this will be the biggest failure yet, and down the high street it could have wider implications. debenhams is caught up in this too. debenhams and arcadia are intertwined because arcadia is the biggest concession partner inside debenhams. as things stood last week, jd sports was closing in on a deal

to acquire debenhams but that is now in doubt given the arcadia ownership question. mike ashley has been after debenhams for a long time and let's see — he is probably the last man standing. covid is accelerating the changes on our high streets, and it's a turbulent end to the year. emma simpson, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... wales faces tougher new corona restrictions — pubs across the country will be banned from selling alcohol in the run up to christmas singer rita 0ra has apologises for breaching lockdown rules, the prime minister "every member of the public, including including celebrities" should follow the rules. and borisjohnson calls for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he tries to head off a rebellion over his new tier system in england let's talk to the shadow public

health minister alex norris. good afternoon to you. will you be voting for or against the prime minister's motion? we will be forming a decision this evening. keir starmer and our shadow cabinet are meeting with the chief medical officer later today to get final information and assurances on some of the things we are concerned about and then we will form a view. i think it will be a ta ke form a view. i think it will be a take or leave it proposition that will be hard to say no to, because the virus is still prevalent and there will need to be restrictions. your constituency, nottingham, going into tier 3, your constituency, nottingham, going into tier3, a your constituency, nottingham, going into tier 3, a lot of businesses i'm sure are saying into tier 3, a lot of businesses i'm sure are saying we into tier 3, a lot of businesses i'm sure are saying we can't survive this? yes and that is highlight it is flaws in the government's scheme and their suggestions so far. the tier 3 business in business in hospitality can't open at this time of year, but a tier 1

hospitality can't open at this time of year, but a tieri a few miles down the road can do. so there needs to be extra support. we are calling on the government, we have been since the plans came out to make that change. there needs to be support for these businesses that will miss out. picking up on that point, this post code element of this, where you can be living in one street and street not far away is under a different tier. would you sympathise with people who just walk around the corner and work under the rules that work there. they go to the pub around the corner where they can? firstly, in the initialwave of restrictions, the government didn't have a very sensible view of public going if i. they have done a better job this time. however if you know a person listening thinks you can do that, if they're as sick as i am of this, if they want to get back to

whatever they're missing most, that is the worst way of doing that. we have to stay the course and follow the rules. what to you think when you hear stories such as rita 0ra? it is not great, i heard the prime minister has called on celebrities to make sure they don't do that, thatis to make sure they don't do that, that is right. 0ne to make sure they don't do that, that is right. one of the moment was when the prime minister's advisor broke the rules and they wouldn't criticise him. people will be frustrated, whether it is neighbours oi’ frustrated, whether it is neighbours or celebrities not following the rules, but we can only be accountable for ourselves and follow the rules. don't you find it strange you're in the opposition and there are tory mps who are mounting a possible rebellion, but labour says no? that is slightly different. i

understand that. people might be a bit confused by that. that set of circumstances provides us with two choices. we can choose to vote against the government's plans, so we can inflict a political defeat and we probably could do that. that would be worse for our country. 0r follow the science and the evidence that says we need restrictions, because our hospitals are still at high capacity of people with covid. that is the responsible thing to do. if that is what the science lace out when we speak to the chief medical officer, is that what we will do. because we are not in this for political points scoring, we are in this for the boast thing for our country and that is the only calculation we ill make. have you worked out what you will do for christmas? yes i had a nephew in lockdown and i will pop up to manchester to eso my mother and my sister and nephew. it will be very

modest and be within restrictions, but it is something i'm keen to do with my family. i know people will be making a similar decision. thank you. the first two vaccines against the novel coronavirus could be administered to americans before christmas. that's according us health secretary alex azar. the news comes as moderna has filed for both us and eu regulatory approval of its coronavirus vaccine so that it can be recommended for widespread use. regulators will look at trial data for the mrna vaccine and decide if it is safe and effective enough for emergency use authorization. clinical studies suggest the jab is more than 94% effective at protecting people from becoming ill with covid—19. pfizer, whose vaccine works in a similar way has already filed for approvalfrom the us food and drug administration. with me is our health reporter, michelle roberts. a lot of people are asking where are

we with this. we have heard of the vaccines, how long before we can use them? we are still at this really quite annoying point where we are waiting for one to be approved. we don't know which might be first. pfizer went first to ask for approval. all of them are giving their data to regulators across the world. and it is now up to the regulators whether they are ready to give it the go ahead and say, yes, it is fine to start giving it more widely to people outside of trials. everybody amazed at the speed of this process, presumably they have got to spend as much time as they would analysing that data? they haven't skipped any steps, they have put them together. all the safety measures are being done and even if

regulators say yes, they're looking good, checks won't stop. as soon as they start to be given to people you continue to monitor and report side effects. regulators could come to a decision before they do here and vice versa. do we still come under the eu for this? we work, we have our own, the the eu for this? we work, we have ourown, the uk the eu for this? we work, we have our own, the uk has always had the mhra, who work with the ema, the european regulator. both will be looking at the data, talking to each other and to the us fda, a lot of letters there, but they're all regulators looking at the same data and sharing the experience. but we could have one giving approval before the other and we can't know which jab will be first. i suppose

the hint is the pfizer first. we don't know who will be the first to receive it? no. that is a political decision is it? it is, but they're advised by medical experts. the hope would be that the jabs work really well in the people who need them the most. we know who needs them the most, elderly people, people with health condition and health care workers. now, what we need to know from the day that, we have only seen preliminary data, but the regulators will see all of is, is how well the vaccine works in those groups. do we know if we have a choicef vaccine works in those groups. do we know if we have a choice f there are three for more vaccines available, can we go to our gp and say i want that one? it is brilliant news we could have three or more coming on online. part will be what can you get first? some of the vaccines have

been made, there are some doses ready to go as soon as regulators say yes. but getting those stocks out to people is one issue. i don't think anybody would be able to start saying, i want this one not that one. it will be based on clinical need and availability. all of them need and availability. all of them need two jobs need and availability. all of them need twojobs snart? need and availability. all of them need two jobs snart? yes -- is that right? yes one jab and a couple of weeks later, or a few weeks later you have your second booster and after that hopefully your immunity should be quite good. we know that governments have bought millions of these things, but once they get approval, how quickly will they roll them out? so there is stock available that has been made. certainly that manufacturer will have to be ramped up massively so

that in 2021 we can get to the masses. before christmas it is possible some people might get their dose. but certainly you and i and everybody else should be looking towards 2021, spring, summer onwards. but it will be based on age and need. one of the things the regulators are looking at and i don't know if we know the answer, is whether after you've had the jab you are still infectious. do we know? we haven't got good data about and we don't know about asymptomatic spread about whether somebody could be immunised and still spread it. it is difficult. that is the unknown. we know it stop it is illness from this —— stops the illness, it stops people from the covid—19 themselves, whether they can spread the virus to others is a different matter. many thousands of people we know are

suffering from so—called long covid, do we know if it would have an impact on them? the vaccine is about protecting somebody from illness. in you have already had covid19, we don't know the jab's going to do anything there. but certainly if you have encountered covid and think you may have had or you definitely have had it, you probably still need a vaccine. people aren't going to say we won't give you because you have had it. because we don't know how long imjuppty last 00—— had it. because we don't know how long imjuppty last 0'0'—— immunity lasts for. we don't think it will treat people with long—term after effects. thank you. speaking to the bbc‘s world at one this lunchtime, the health minister nadhim zahawi, who is in charge of vaccine rollout in the uk, said that the government is looking at ways for people to show they've been vaccinated. we are looking at the technology and

of course a way of people being able to inform their gp that they have been vaccinated, also you will find restau ra nts a nd bars been vaccinated, also you will find restaurants and bars and cinemas and other venues will probably also use that system. as they have done with the app. the reason the app has been successful, we are just under 19 million down loads, is because a lot of places that you would go to and they have the qr code from the nhs that you scan. i think in many ways, the pressure will come from both ways from service providers, who will say demonstrate us to you have been vaccinated and also we will make the technology as accessible as possible. many service providers will want to engage in this in the way they did with the app. we arejust

we are just getting figures about the number of fines handed out in england for breaches of coronavirus breaches. it is 1,977 fines. these figures arejust in. breaches. it is 1,977 fines. these figures are just in. the greatest number were issued in north—west england, which has been subject to the longest period of restrictions. greater manchester police handed out the most penalties. 309 tickets since 5th november. 0n merseyside, police there issued 277 pennell tips. with another —— penalties with 178 in lancashire. leicestershire police issued only 30. police chiefs believe the significance, the difference between the areas may be down to the willingness of people to comply with requests to break up a gathering, along with the amount of police time that has been allocated to investigations. so 24,993 fixed

penalty notices have been issued in england and wales since they came into force in march. we will have a closer look at that later. now the weather. another murky start to the day across southern counties, but since then, we have seen this rain moving southward, washing the mist and fog out of the atmosphere. visibility has been picking up. for most of us, it stays pretty cloudy with patches of rain around. brighter weather in scotla nd of rain around. brighter weather in scotland with a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. these brighter conditions could spread to northern ireland and the north of england for a time, but overnight, this guy is really clear. east scotland across much of england and wales, it will clear long enough to give us patches of frost. quite a chilly start to the day on tuesday. tuesday, four east wales, most of england, eastern scotland, we get off to a bright

start. cold northerly winds around, and temperatures along the east coast struggling. high is a 5—6%. further north—west, the weather will turn milder through the day, but as the milder air arrives, extensive cloud, probably mist and fog over the hills, and patches of light rain and drizzle as well. that is your weather. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: wales faces tougher new corona restrictions.

pubs across the country will be banned from selling alcohol in the run—up to christmas. singer rita 0ra has apologises for breaching england's lockdown england's lockdown rules. the prime minister says "every member of the public, "including celebrities" should follow the regulations. borisjohnson calls for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he tries to head off a rebellion over his new tier system in england. coronavirus infections in england have fallen by about a third. some of the worst—hit areas see the biggest improvements — but experts warn the figures are still too high. moderna is filing for us and european emergency regulatory approval of its coronavirus vaccine so that it can be recommended for widespread use. thousands ofjobs at risk as sir philip green's retail empire, which includes topshop, burton and dorothy perkins, verges on collapse. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. thanks, simon. we will start with

formula 1. driver rowe mangojohn says he has completely changed his mind about formula 1's head safety device and credits hayley with saving his life yesterday. —— romain grosjean. incredible scenes as the frenchman walked away from an horrific 140 mph crash at the bahrain grand prix, only suffering burns to his hands. as sports correspondentjoe wilson has the story. the bahrain grand prix begins. 20 ca rs race, the bahrain grand prix begins. 20 cars race, each with a halo, titania and bar protecting the cockpit, protecting romain grosjean. and a big fire there! big flames and a big fire there! big fla mes insta ntly and a big fire there! big flames instantly surrendered the driver. that should not happen and will be part of the investigation, but with medics attending, grosjean, hand spinning on the metal, was able to force his own way out and escape, which seemed miraculous. grosjean was able later in hospital to reflect how the car's improvements had saved his life. ijust wanted to

say i am 0k, well, sort of 0k. thanks very much for all of the messages. if it wasn't —— i was against the halo some years ago, but i think it was the greatest thing, without it i would not be here to this day. at the circuit, the teams watch the replays. lewis hamilton tweeted that the crash was a reminder of the wrist, the extreme danger that are still there. as soon as the grand prix still resumed, another collision, a car upturned. the driver was pulled out unharmed. a safety car finally led the race at home after another incident. lewis hamilton won, but 20 drivers came to bahrain, 20 lived to drive again. alan shearer says football needs to wa ke alan shearer says football needs to wake up around concussion protocols after arsenal's david louise played on following a serious head collision with rauljimenez. the

striker suffered a fractured skull in the incident but is comfortable in hospital following an operation. arsenal's play were simply bandaged up arsenal's play were simply bandaged up before being taken off at half—time and later required stitches. arsenal say they followed the rules around concussion but the brain injury association headway says football is not doing enough to protect displays, a view echoed by alan shearer and match of the day. football needs to get real, it needs to wa ke football needs to get real, it needs to wake up, it needs to get serious. not next year, not next month, not next week, now. how on earth is he allowed to come back onto the pitch with a wound that is bleeding through the bandage, dripping down his face? we are talking about life and death here, and players' careers. career ending. it isjust not acceptable. manchester united striker eddison cavane could face a three—game ban if it is found he used

discriminatory or language in a social media post last night. the clu b social media post last night. the club are investigating the instagram story which took place after the club's 3— story which took place after the clubs 3— to win, in which he scored two goals after coming on as a half—time substitute. police are investigating the protest outside celtic park that left three police officers with minor injuries. fans gathered outside the stadium, calling for boss neil lennon to be sacked after the code's exit from the league cup. some threw missiles and clashed with police. celtic had just two wins from ten, and can't qualify from their europa league group, and are 11 points behind rangers in the league. the club has condemned the process and says the players were left shaken. the women's rugby world cup will increase from 12 to 16 teams from 2025. since 2006, there have been 12 teams, split into three groups but next yea r‘s teams, split into three groups but next year's will be the last before

the revamp. world rugby chairman bill bowman has described it as a milestone moment for the women's game. that's all your support for now. we can head over to the bbc sport website for live coverage of the uk snooker championship. we have 2/3—round matches available there, judd trump and yang wingo, while higgins is taking onjackjones in table two. head over to our website. that's all from me. simon. thank you very much. the mass testing of students for covid—19, so they can go home as safely as possible for the christmas break, is beginning at many universities across the uk today. if they test negative, many students will leave university in the "travel window" starting on thursday. 0ur education correspondent dan johnson reports. two of these tests three days apart, then 24 hours to make it home for christmas — that's the safest route on offer ahead of the holidays, and here in east london these students are helping manage the tests as well as taking them. i think this is the safest

way of doing it. i think by allowing all students and staff to be tested, we can ensure that we keep the r rate down and people can go home feeling confident. you've got to balance the risk and thisjust minimises it that little bit more. so, yeah, iwould be happier knowing that i got the two negatives to go home and see my parents. a positive result will mean confirmation with a lab test then isolation. we are very confident that we can test everybody. but support is being promised. the well—being advisers will contact the students, make sure they're 0k, offer them emotional support. and i suppose the important thing about doing it now is that there is a ten day window, if somebody does test positive, so they can go back to their families and loved ones. still get home in time for christmas? yes, absolutely. it's a huge challenge getting this in place at every university with enough tests available for all students and the results being delivered on

time quickly enough so that they can all get home as safely as possible. but this is all voluntary, so the question will be — how many students will actually come forward? in scotland, st andrews started testing on saturday and students are already getting results. it didn't feel as bad as i expected it to. i had heard some stories about it being really uncomfortable but it was actually pretty all right. obviously it is really important for many of them to get back and see families and loved ones during the winter break. we want to do all that we can to make sure that that's possible for them but we want them to do so in as safe a way as possible, and that is why this testing centre is so important. some lecturers have warned this travel window could be chaotic after a term that has been so tough for staff as well as students. people feel a bit up and down. i think they are a bit worried about going home to places where the restrictions are higher. i think especially when people have had such little opportunity

to mix in st andrews, i think going home and seeing their family is something that people are quite looking forward to. it is kind of awesome that we can still have some kind of normality and some kind of family time. especially if all the kids are away at uni, it is nice to be home and just to be home and get cooked for and get your washing done and stuff. good to know some priorities haven't changed despite the pandemic. let's speak to dylan edwards, pro—vice chancellor of faculty of medicine and health at the university of east anglia. good to see you. so this starts this week. how do you think it will go? it seems to be going pretty well so far. we actually started yesterday here at uea, and we have about 3500 bookings already into the system. some of those are people who have booked once and not put their second appointment, but we are hoping with appointment, but we are hoping with a bigger push and communications as

the momentum gets going that we will get to a good proportion of our 17,000 students. 17,000. so just talk us through the procedure. what does a student or indeed the staff need to prove before they can... i won't use the word escape, but before they can get home? we are using the government's lateral flow testing system here, which is very much validated already, and so stu d e nts much validated already, and so students will have two negative tests with that, and then, as your previous report was saying, they then have a 24—hour period in which to begin their journeys then have a 24—hour period in which to begin theirjourneys home, and we are hoping that this will be staggered over the coming week or ten days. and it is all voluntary. you have had a good take—up, have you? pretty good. we have been testing students a symptomatically

since september in collaboration with one of our partner institutes, so there has been this awareness and expectation of testing on campus, and students have been participating in that very effectively, and increasingly, we have seen a switch from students coming forward just on a sort of random basis to students that have health placements, medicine and health students, going out onto placements and wanting to be tested before they went out onto those clinical placements. oral teaching has now moved online, so very much there is no reason for anybody to stay, is there? well, again, some health sciences students and pharmacy students who have clinical placements, who are staying beyond the december the 9th cut off, those placements are important to continue, so that people can continue, so that people can continue to train in the nhs. so we

are very keen that they will have access to testing, and after the push on the lateral flow testing, which finishes in december the 9th, we will move back to our kew pcr testing, and the students will still be able to get tested. do you think stu d e nts be able to get tested. do you think students have been getting a bit of a bad rap? on the whole, they stick to the rules, don't they? that's absolutely true. the vast majority of stu d e nts absolutely true. the vast majority of students are very mindful of the regulations around covid, and mindful of the consequences of contracting the virus, and so, i think it is a minority of students that have been ignoring the rules, and we are very keen to police that behaviour, to stop it happening, and i would say that the vast majority of stu d e nts i would say that the vast majority of students are really very conscious about the need to protect themselves their people they come into co nta ct

themselves their people they come into contact with, and their family, particularly at christmas time. together with vulnerable people. the assumption that students want to go home for christmas, is that true? some mayjust home for christmas, is that true? some may just want to stay where they are. well, we certainly have some international students who will be staying with us on campus over the christmas holiday, because the restrictions for quarantining once they go back into their home countries and then back here. so it is true, we will likely have stu d e nts is true, we will likely have students who want to stay. in norfolk, we are on a tier 2 area, and it is possibly a little more easy to live in that then go back to some of their tier 3 hotspot areas of the country. at the moment, we are not of the country. at the moment, we a re not really of the country. at the moment, we are not really sure exactly how many we will be seeing over the christmas period, but we are certainly open

365 days a year. we will have a very welcome winter warmth in activity in the university over christmas. that is interesting, that some students would rather stay in a tier 2 area and be able to enjoy the company of others rather than spend it with theirfamily! others rather than spend it with their family! yes, well... i think their family! yes, well... i think the vast majority will be leaving, wherever they are going to, whatever the tier level of the country is, but we expect some will want to stay. really good to speak to you, dyla n stay. really good to speak to you, dylan edwards, thank you for your time. thanks. french rescue teams have been searching for a british woman, who has gone missing in the pyrenees. esther dingley was on a month long solo hiking trip through the mountain range. she was expected to end her hike on wednesday but has not been seen seen since. ms dingley has spent the last six years travelling around europe in a minivan with her partner and she was last in touch with him a week ago. the headlines on bbc news:

wales faces tougher new corona restrictions — pubs across the country will be banned from selling alcohol in the run up to christmas. singer rita ora has apologises for breaching lockdown rules, the prime minister "every member of the public, including celebrities"should follow the rules. and boris johnson calls for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he tries to head off a rebellion over his new tier system in england. by snp leader nicola sturgeon when she address the snp's annual plans to help low income familes in scotland will be unveiled by snp leader nicola sturgeon when she address the snp's annual conference later this afternoon. our political correspondent nick eardley gave this update from glasgow. the backdrop to much scottish politics now is a poll that shows a big increase in support for independence. nicola sturgeon says he wants to hold another referendum

in the early years of the neck scottish parliament if, as looks likely, she retains power in may. that has led to some criticism from opposition parties who say, in the middle of a pandemic, focusing on the constitution is a distraction. listen to the first minister on bbc brea kfast listen to the first minister on bbc breakfast this morning. my first, last and in between focus right now is on the pandemic. i spend all of my energies on that, andl spend all of my energies on that, and i think even my worst critic would have to concede that that is the case, and that will continue to be the case for as long as it is required. i do think for scotland, having the ability to build a country that we want, not one in the image of borisjohnson country that we want, not one in the image of boris johnson and country that we want, not one in the image of borisjohnson and his brexiteers, and having all the powers and tools at our disposal to do that, is a really important question for us. the first minister is going to announce her £100 million programme this afternoon, designed to help disadvantaged families through the winter months, and it will include

£100 grant for many of them. policies like that are designed to draw a contrast with westminster, to say, we can do things differently if we have the power, although the treasury can turn around as well and say, a lot of this money is coming from emergency funding that can only happen as part of the uk. it is worth remembering as well that boris johnson has said he won't grant permission for another referendum, as nicola sturgeon wants, even if the snp win the election in may, but it was also interesting that this morning, ms sturgeon was also refusing to rule out the possibility of going ahead with legislation for another referendum and seeing if the uk government challenged it in the courts. more trees, meadows and wetlands, and fewer sheep and cows — that's the government's vision for the future of england's countryside once the post—brexit transition period ends on 31 december. the seven—year plan will phase out subsidies to farmers based on how much land they own. instead, they'll be paid for such things as preventing floods, planting woods and helping wildlife. things as preventing floods, our environment analyst

roger harrabin reports. farming is a toughjob. and in parts of the uk, farmers are struggling to stay afloat. good boys, good boys. in sussex, martin hole is focused right now on a visit from the vet. come on, chaps. come on. it seems to have spooked some of the cattle. but the future of the countryside as a whole is far more worrying for livestock farmers like him. that's because, for two decades, martin's farm has been kept in business thanks to grants from the european union. the system is frankly bizarre. the richer you are, the more land you own. the more land you own, the more taxpayer's money you get, but that is going to change. it's brexit that's driving the shift. soggy fields are great for wildlife, and the uk government says in future taxpayers will reward farmers for bringing birds to the countryside and encouraging woodlands to soak up carbon emissions.

so basically, martin will be paid to help nature. but will the grants be enough to keep him in business? i think there's a very real concern throughout the industry that the money available to achieve the objectives of farming for more wildlife is simply not going to be enough for us to deliver successfully because delivering wildlife from a farm is an expensive business. it has been announced that farmers will lose half their former eu grants by 2024 and all of them by 2028. farmers who embrace the new policy and farm sustainably and make space for nature on their farms and who want to improve their profitability so invest in new equipment, they will all benefit from the new policy. there will be incentives for farming sustainably, grants to help space for nature, and grants as well to help farmers buy new equipment. some farmers may object, but the future of britain's

countryside will be fewer sheep and cattle and more birds and trees. beavers have built their first dam on exmoor in more than 400 years after being re—introduced into the area nine months ago. this footage, captured on wildlife cameras, shows the animals gnawing nearby trees and collecting vegetation to create a dam across small channels that run through an estate in somerset. the animals are being released in different areas as part of a uk—wide project. ben eardley is project manager at the national trust and can tell us more about the beavers. this is very exciting, isn't it? it is, yes, especially in light of your previous story, talking about creating space for nature and

wildlife, and beavers are one of the tools in achieving that, creating space for other birds and other wildlife. lots of pictures of this dam, the first evidence of a dam built by beavers on exmoor. it doesn't look that impressive, but it is hugely symbolic, isn't it? yes, i mean, it was impressive for us. they built that in a weekend, so i don't think we could have done a better job. and it was the instant wetland that it created, so the change was profound and rapid. it went from being a woodland with some disconnected streams sort of running through it to a large area of wetla nd, through it to a large area of wetland, so essentially, a large pond, so those wetter areas again that you were talking about in your previous story, and that is brilliant in terms of other wildlife. it is more than 400 years, i think, since this last happened here. what will happen in, say, if few decades if the beavers are allowed to thrive as we all hope

they do? what will change in terms of the environment? you will get much richer river and stream environments, so especially in headwater environments, where they are allowed to create that change, they will create larger areas of wetla nd, they will create larger areas of wetland, pond areas, marsh and bargain areas, and that is good for a host of other wildlife, insects, birds, and other mammals such as otters. it is notjust benefits to wildlife, but to us. that pond they have been damning slows the flow of water through a catchment, mitigates drought, improves water quality and sequesters carbon, so they have been missing from our streams for years, amazing little creatures. they are fairly industrious, seems the word. they are, especially this time is of year, when they are getting busy with wood material, when they start to de—bark trees and get busy building as dams. and in areas where

in recent years we have seen a lot of flooding, is this a natural... i won't say answer, but something that can help to prevent the severity of that in future? i think it is part of the answer. i think you are right, it is that nature —based solution, approach, to mitigating flood, and certainly part of restoring a natural process to river systems, giving that water space, slowing the movement of it through that catchment, and beavers do a lot of it for free forever if they are given the space and time. how can you tell if a beaver is happy? lots of chewed trees, basically. that's what we have in our enclosure. lots of de—barking of trees. as you can see from the video, they are not good at social distancing! well, we hope that is the case! you want to see how many on exmoor by the end of the next few years? i wouldn't like to say. at the moment, ours is an enclosed release. we are awaiting defra's decision and catchment wide beaver licenses later this year, so we will wait and see what happens

with that. ben, iwish we will wait and see what happens with that. ben, i wish you well with your work, and congratulations with the success of it so far. thank you very much. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. monday's weather started on a similar note to the weekend, with extensive low clouds, mist and fog patches around, particularly across east anglia, southern england, the midlands, and southern england, the midlands, and southern parts of wales as well. since then, we have seen rain move down from the north, and this rain has been washing some of that mist and fog out of the atmosphere, so visibility has been improving, though many of us will stay cloudy, still with patches of rain through the afternoon. across northern areas of the uk, particularly scotland, the skies will brighten, but there will be heavy showers here as well. overnight, the rain will continue to pull away. clear skies follow across most of england, wales and scotland for a most of england, wales and scotland fora time, most of england, wales and scotland for a time, long enough to allow temperatures to dip down below freezing, so we are looking at the touch of frost to start the day on tuesday. tuesday, cold air to start within place, but then we have this

milderair within place, but then we have this milder air moving within place, but then we have this milderair moving in within place, but then we have this milder air moving in across the atlantic. this is a warm sector pushing in from the north—west. i think for many across eastern wales, most of england, and eastern scotland, a bright start with some sunshine. cold northerly winds, temperatures struggling, high is a 5-6%. temperatures struggling, high is a 5—6%. across the north it turns milder, but with that, a lot of low cloud. mist and fog patches over high ground, and of drizzle around as well. further changes in the picture towards the middle of the week. another cold front slide south eastwards, introducing much colder air across the north west. for england and wales, a lot of cloud and patches of light rain and drizzle as that system pushes south eastwards. skies brighton for scotland, northern ireland and northern england. strong rain for western scotland and plenty of showers blowing across scotland, some for northern ireland and some for the far north of england, turning colder, temperatures 5—7. wet and windy weather on the way for thursday. the heaviest rain for wales and southern counties of

england. showers in scotland will turn increasingly wintry, with some snow, particularly above around 300 metres elevation is the colder air sta rts metres elevation is the colder air starts to dig in. we end the week with lower pressure slowly pushing to the east of the country. this low pressure could start to engage some of that colder air, so we could see some rain turned to snow, more especially of a high ground, probably above 200—300 metres elevation. nevertheless, as we end the week, some of us could wake up to scenes like this on friday.

this is bbc news, i'm simon mccoy. the headlines: tough new coronavirus restrictions for wales from friday — with pubs and restaurants banned from selling alcohol in the run up to christmas. business owners call it a kick in the teeth. hard work to get everything right, train the staff, get the building sorted out and make it safe and secure for our customers to enjoy. so, yeah, mega frustrated and obviously it's costly. singer rita ora apologises for breaching england's lockdown rules. the prime minister says "every member of the public, including celebrities" should follow the regulations. borisjohnson calls on his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he tries to head off a rebellion over his new tier system in england. coronavirus infections in england fall by about a third. some of the worst—hit areas see the biggest improvements,

but experts warn the figures are still too high. we're still at 1%, which means one in 100 people that that we test randomly has evidence of virus on a nose and throat swab. so clearly that's still too high. and coming up this hour, the snp leader and scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon is due to address her party's conference. we'll bring you her speech live here on the bbc news channel. welsh pubs, restaurants and cafes will be banned from serving alcohol from friday and will be unable to open to customers beyond 6 o'clock this evening, as part of new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases. between 1,000 and 1,700 deaths are feared if this action isn't taken, according to the first minister wales mark dra keford.

in this afternoon's other developments, rita ora says she's "deeply sorry" about the 30th birthday party she held at the weekend, as a spokesman for the prime minister has said it's "important that everybody in society sets an example". coronavirus infections in england have fallen by about a third over lockdown, according to a major study. the highly respected "react—1" study found a 30% fall in infections between 13th and 24th november. it says the virus's rate of reproduction is below one, meaning the epidemic is shrinking. as can be seen from this graph. the r number has been below1 for the first time since september. this means on average that every infection translated to less than one other new infection, so the epidemic is shrinking. meanwhile boris johnons is urging disgruntled conservative mps to show "unity" and "resolve". he's publishing an impact assessment to try to assuage their fears over planned restrictions when the national lockdown ends.

our wales correspondent tomas morgan reports. since march, pryzm — cardiff's largest nightclub — has been open for only six days. with a capacity for 3,000 usually, current restrictions, table service and social distancing, has limited the venue to just 240. but from friday, alcohol will be banned from being sold in venues across wales, and hospitality will have to shut at 6pm, which means this place will have to close again. it's a lot of hard work to get everything right, train the staff, get the building sorted out, make it safe and secure for our customers to enjoy. so, yeah, mega—frustrating, and obviously it's costly and we've had no support from the government for nightclubs specifically. so, yeah, it's a major kick in the teeth, really. the infection rate, and more importantly, the positivity rate of coronavirus in wales has risen over the past week or so,

and in many areas of south wales, its higher now than they were before the recent firebreak lockdown. which has led to the welsh government implementing further restrictions, and another financial package to support the industries affected. we will provide the most generous package of financial assistance anywhere in the united kingdom. this will include £180 million of new help specifically for tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses, and that's in addition to the various support schemes available from the uk government. along with hospitality, cinemas and indoor entertainment will also have to close in an effort to curb transmission rates. these latest set of restrictions coming into force on friday will be reviewed every three weeks. but with an agreement already in place between the devolved nations of the uk over easing between—household mixing over the festive period,

it seems unlikely that these latest set of measures in wales will be eased before christmas. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. the singer rita ora has apologised for holding a 30th birthday party celebration at a restaurant in west london on saturday with a group of friends in breach of coronavirus restrictions. posting on instagram, the singer described it as an "inexcusable error ofjudgement". the metropolitan police confirmed that they were called to the casa cruz restaurant in notting hill to investigate a potential breach of covid regulations and officers were seen this morning at the venue of the party. police were xauled to what was the —— called to what was considered to be an illegal gathering at a restau ra nt be an illegal gathering at a restaurant in london and a statement has been issued in which she talks

ofa has been issued in which she talks of a serious and inexcusable error of a serious and inexcusable error ofjudgment. she said it is, she is embarrassed by what happened, but says it doesn't maybe it right and she apoll swriezs for —— apologises for breaking the lockdown rules with the gathering at this restaurants in notting hill on saturday celebrating her 30th birthday. the statement says: borisjohnson has called for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he hopes to head off a conservative rebellion over plans to introduce a three tier system of coronavirus restrictions in england.

here are the critera the government used to decide who went into what tier when it published a list of local authority areas last week. first, the total number of cases. then case rates in people over the age of 60. the rate at which they are either rising or falling. the number of positive cases relative to the number of total tests. and finally, the amount of pressure on the local nhs. later this afternoon the government is expected to publish an official impact assessment of the measures which will include the economic, social and health costs of the tiers. our political correspondent, chris masonm reports. the bleak reality of england's second lockdown. it's due to end on wednesday, but there are concerns the tiered system of restrictions that will come next will be painful too. some conservative backbenchers are making the government work hard for their support. it's quite right that parliament does its oversight role, it scrutinises what is being put forward to see whether we can

advance the proposals to a better place. a public that understands and respects the rules is more likely to follow them, and compliance from the nation is so important if we want to get through this. here's a quick reminder of the three tiers coming in england. the lightest tier, tier 1, will only apply in cornwall, the isle of wight and the isles of scilly. 32 million people will be in tier 2, where meeting inside each other‘s homes will be banned. and 23 million people will be in tier 3, where restaurants and pubs, among other places, will have to remain closed. but shops, hairdressers and gyms will reopen across england. we shouldn't stumble at this last hurdle. we've had to take some very difficult decisions. we need to see this through and stick to the course for now, but we will be giving parliament a say on the review of these measures later in january. i am currently in the restaurant at the minute and you can see the

perspex screens between each table. labour leader keir starmer has been on a virtual visit to a restaurant in what will be tier 3 manchester. here we are, with the same old same old, which is restrictions being put in place, but the financial package not being ready to go with it. it's exactly the same. one of my main criticisms of this government is that they have been very slow in their decision—making but they're not learning lessons. in the end, though, it's highly likely labour will back the government, the prime minister will get his way, this new system of tiered restrictions in england will come into force. but there is deep restlessness among many conservative backbenchers, real worry about the hospitality industry, deep concern about the wider economic devastation, and fears about how long this squeeze on our liberties could last. the government has clocked that and is seeking to reassure. so, the debate in here will be passionate, even if the outcome

won't be a surprise. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. coronavirus infections in england have fallen by about a third over lockdown, according to a major study. some of the worst—hit areas saw the biggest improvements, but, despite this progress, cases remained relatively high. the "react—1" study found a 30% fall in infections between 13th and 24th november. it says the virus's rate of reproduction is below one, meaning the epidemic is shrinking. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. lockdown has been described as a blunt instrument. it can damage the economy and mental health. but new research suggests england's most recent one has dented the epidemic. during november's lockdown, more than 100,000 people from different backgrounds were tested for covid—19, whether they had symptoms or not. this is the best way to get an idea of how prevalent the virus is and gives us the most up—to—date

picture of what's going on. the react study found between the end of october and the middle of november, cases of coronavirus fell by 30%. and infections fell by more than half in the north west and north east, areas with some of the highest numbers of cases. the findings suggest cases are now highest in the east and west midlands. we're still at 1%, which means one in 100 people that we test randomly has evidence of virus on a nose and throat swab, so clearly that's still too high. and in the north, the rates were much higher than that. they were over 2%. the r number tells us how many people one infected person may pass the virus on to. the react study estimates it has fallen to 0.88, which means the epidemic is shrinking. as this graph shows, it's the first time it's happened since september. but a great deal of caution accompanies these positive findings. despite clear improvements,

cases remain high and there's always a lag between falling infections translating into hospitalisations and deaths. the data suggests october's tier system and the lockdown helped curb infections in some parts, but as we approach a challenging time of year for the health service, many are nervous about the changing rules in coming weeks. there is potential for the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions over christmas to see a real push of cases into early january, and sadly we will see deaths as a result of that. so i appreciate why the government are doing this in terms of giving people the choice about how they want to behave with their families over christmas, but i would really urge people to be very cautious. there is potential good news about one of the vaccines the uk has lined up to tackle covid. moderna's filed for regulatory approval in the us and europe. its jab is said to be more than 94% effective, but even if one vaccine is approved soon, it will be months before

they start taking effect. for now, our behaviour will be key to keeping the virus at bay. anna collinson, bbc news. police in england handed out 1,977 penalty fines for breaches of the national lockdown during the first two weeks of november, according to the latest statistics. the greatest number of fines were issued in north—west england which, along with leicester, has now been subject to the longest period of restrictions on normal life. police chiefs believe the significant difference between the areas may be down to the willingness of people to comply with requests from officers to break up a gathering, along with the amount of police time that has been allocated to investigations. the mass testing of students for covid, so they can go home safely for the christmas break, has started at many universities across the uk today. stu d e nts have been asked to take two tests, three days apart. testing is voluntary and if they test negative, many students will leave university in the "travel window" starting on thursday.

the first two vaccines against the novel coronavirus could be administered to americans before christmas. that's according us health secretary alex azar. the news comes as moderna has filed for both us and eu regulatory approval of its coronavirus vaccine so that it can be recommended for widespread use. regulators will look at trial data for the mrna vaccine and decide if it is safe and effective enough for emergency use authorization. clinical studies suggest the jab is more than 94% effective at protecting people from becoming ill with covid—19. pfizer, whose vaccine works in a similar way has already filed for approvalfrom the us food and drug administration. clinical studies suggest the jab is more than 94% effective at protecting people from becoming ill with covid—19. pfizer, whose vaccine works in a similar way has already filed for approvalfrom the us food and drug administration. meanwhile, in the uk, nadhim zahawi, who's been newly appointed as the health minister in charge of vaccine rollout here, told bbc news this lunchtime that the government is looking

at ways for people to show they've been vaccinated. we are looking at the technology and of course a way of people being able to inform their gp that they have been vaccinated. but also you will find restaurants and bars and cinemas and other venues will probably also use that system, as they have done with the app. the reason the app has been so successful, i think we are touching 90 million down loads of the app, because a lot of places have got the qr code from the nhs that they scan and in many way it is sort of the pressure will come from both ways s, from service providers and also we will make the technology as easy and as accessible as possible, but many service providers will want to engage in this in the way they did with the app. sir philip green's retail empire arcadia is likely to call in administrators today — putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

sources at the company — which owns retailers including topshop, burton and dorothy perkins — say they don't expect a last—minute rescue deal. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. in liverpool, shop workers arrive early, wondering what the future holds. the arcadia brands are on so many high streets and town centres, like here in hull and cheshire. the lockdowns have hit this business hard, but it was failing long before the pandemic. topshop, though, which was the jewel in the crown, has struggled to survive against disruptors like online boohoo group, and on the high street, primark have come in with different offers, more value—led offers and a better conversation with the consumer of today. overshadowed by online rivals. boohoo has already snapped up other failed high street brands. could topshop soon be next? from what we're hearing, there is interest in these brands and if the group goes into administration today i think there will be a lot of interested

parties in buying up some of those brands, but some of the interested parties wouldn't necessarily want those stores. part of the problem arcadia has had is that a lot of stores have not been profitable and they haven't been able to get out of the long leases they are signed up to. sir philip green is in monaco, but there was no sign of him today on his superyacht. he made his fortune from retail, but he tarnished his reputation — hauled in front of mps to fix the huge hole in the bhs pension schemes after it collapsed. it's resolvable, sortable, we will sort it, we will find a solution, and i want to give an assurance to the 20,000 pensioners, i am there to sort this. but will he do the same for the arcadia pension scheme and its £350 million deficit? either sir philip puts his hand in his pocket and writes what would be a big cheque even for him, or the pension scheme members stay in the government lifeboat, the pension protection fund, and they will get compensation representing not their full pension,

but the majority of it. it all looks pretty festive, but there will be little to celebrate this christmas for the 13,000 or so workers. you can see some of them are in the stores today getting ready for the reopening. so many retailjobs have already been lost, but this will be the biggest failure yet, and down the high street it could have wider implications. debenhams is caught up in this too. debenhams and arcadia are intertwined because arcadia is the biggest concession partner inside debenhams. as things stood last week, jd sports was closing in on a deal to acquire debenhams but that is now in doubt given the arcadia ownership question. mike ashley has been after debenhams for a long time and let's see — he is probably the last man standing. covid is accelerating the changes on our high streets, and it's a turbulent end to the year. emma simpson, bbc news.

french rescue teams have been searching for a british woman, who has gone missing in the pyrenees. esther dingley was on a month long solo hiking trip through the mountain range. she was expected to end her hike on wednesday but has not been seen since. ms dingley has spent the last six years travelling around europe in a minivan with her partner and she was last in touch with him a week ago. argentine prosecutors are investigating diego maradona's doctor for possible manslaughter following the footballer‘s death four days ago. police have searched the house and private clinic of leopoldo luque in buenos aires as they try to establish if there was negligence in maradona's treatment following surgery. dr luque has not been charged and says he had done all he could to save the life of a friend. now on bbc news, jo coburn presents live coverage of nicola sturgeon's speech from the snp conference in edinburgh in politics live. welcome to viewers on bbc two and

the bbc news channel for live coverage of nicola sturgeon's speech to her party conference. i'm joined by the bbc‘s political editor laura keunssberg and the snp mp drew hendry. nicola sturgeon will be addressing her party conference, virtually of course. she has been speaking already to the media. my first, last and in between focus is on the pandemic. but she's said that independence in scotland is in clear sight. this is what the snp's virtual conference looks like. we will bring you the first minister's

speech in about 10 minutes. laura, let's start on the issue of the pandemic and also independence. nicola sturgeon saying she is firmly focussed on dealing with the pandemic. but independence is in clear sight? yes, i think the interesting thing to hear from the speech will be the extent to which she tries to weave those two things together. for nicola sturgeon's critics, the thing you hear levelled at herfrom critics, the thing you hear levelled at her from the unionist side is to talk about the constitution is a distraction. to talk of a campaign for independence and having another referendum is not what the focus should be on now. but i imagine in the speech she will try to put the two things together, becauspoliticians are dealing with the pan democrat —— pandemic, but

there are questions what is the best way for politicians to move from the emergency phase to making society better. for nicola sturgeon in her view that means independence. so i think the really interesting thing will be how she manages to knit those two things together. drew, backin those two things together. drew, back in the spring, you remember the scottish government suspended all forfor another scottish government suspended all for for another referendum to focus all resources on tackling coronavirus. we are still in the thick of this pandemic, and yet there is focus again on independence, on the words nicola sturgeon herself said. is that the right thing to do? well i think everybody knows from watching nicola sturgeon and her appearing day in day out, almost without a break, i can't remembertaking day out, almost without a break, i can't remember taking one, how seriously she and the scottish government have been taking the pandemic. you contrast that with the limited appearances of the prime

minister. she has taken this seriously, the pandemic is the most important thing at the moment. but as lara said, there is the business going on of what to do we do when we come out of this and what kind of future do we look for and it is incumbent to consider these things in parallel. but the pandemic is front and centre and that has taken all of the scottish government's attention. she has been extremely visible, are you also claiming that she has been better at handling the pandemic than boris johnson? well, look, i don't think this pandemic is an opportunity to you know level who is doing best or worst at it. the fa ct is doing best or worst at it. the fact is that it is a vicious and virulent pandemic which has affected a lot of people, a lot of people have lost loved ones, what we have seenin have lost loved ones, what we have seen in scotland is the scottish government and nicola sturgeon working flat out to do their best to

make sure that this virus is controlled and as many people are protected as possible. i think the public in every survey and opinion poll when that question is posed are appreciating the work that has been put in. i don't think that is up for question at all. you claim she has worked hard at it, then perhaps surprising when you look at the first in terms of excess death rates and the increase among european countries, you can see from january to may that england is at the top of the european countries and scotland is third at 5.11%. so in terms of the figures, scotland hasn't performed well has it? well, you know, like i say, i don't think it's a contest. i think the decisions have been made taking the best scientific evidence at hand. the fa ct scientific evidence at hand. the fact that you know scotland has seen

throughout the pandemic fewer deaths and a lower case rate throughout the nine months has shown there has been some good work done. but that doesn't mean there can't be more work to do, or that every action that has been taken has been spot on, this is something that everybody has had to learn about and adjust to as we have been going through this pandemic. but public opinion is very clear about this, that nicola sturgeon and the stosh scottish government have been doing a good job and that has been reflected in the surveys that have been taken. we are showing our viewers polls on scottish independence and for the duration of the pandemic, that the, there has been an increase in the yes support to 56%. laura, to what extent yes support to 56%. laura, to what exte nt d o yes support to 56%. laura, to what extent do you think the snp believe

their handling of the pandemic has aided their case for independence? it is difficult to be cat goric about this but polls suggest they don't prove things. there is a belief that nicola sturgeon's strengths as a politician have been very much to the forehere. she hack at the top of her political trade for a long dime and she is —— time and she is a good and clear communicator, there is no question about that, whether unionists like it or not, they know nicola sturgeon has a real capacity to be able to talk convincingly to members of the public. i think that role as first minister as communicators, is something where she has played to her strengths. that does not mean that as and when we get to the holyrood elections in may, wejust don't know what the situation will be with the pandemic, we don't know

what else will have happened in terms of events between now and then. let alone beyond getting to what may or may not be an actual independence referendum. so sing definitely we have se nicola sturgeon's stock be high, does that mean that you know it is all plain sailing? clearly not. i think we have to be careful about what translates, the flip side and the tory politicians would say they're aware that borisjohnson is not an advantage for them in, when you come to talking to voters in scotland. advantage for them in, when you come to talking to voters in scotlandlj will to talking to voters in scotland.” will play something to our viewers, something that nicola sturgeon said about independence and borisjohnson in an interview with the bbc this morning. let's put our faith in the power of democracy. we see across the atlantic, what happens to leaders who try to hold back democracy, they get swept away. i

know borisjohnson looks democracy, they get swept away. i know boris johnson looks to donald trump for many things, perhaps he should look and learn in that respect. can you spell out briefly, because we only have a few minutes, what is the comparison between boris johnson and donald trump that she was making. the trend towards independence comes before the pandemic and in fact it is contained within the seven elections of the snp have won since 2014 and we have seen the polls rising. but to answer your question, the critical issue is if people like borisjohnson or donald trump are going to deny the democracy that people show or... hang on what democracy that is that, borisjohnson would say he is respecting the result of 2014 scottish independence referendum, where people voted no. donald trump is contested the result of presidential election that he has not won. what is the comparison?

there is two clear things. the promises that were made in 2014, the sacred promises about scotland being an equal partner and seeing new federalism have not been delivered. the day after david cameron came out and talked about english votes for english laws, the day after the referendum. listen you go on to the fa ct referendum. listen you go on to the fact that we are seeing the people of scotland vote in may for the snp and vote for an independence referendum that would be part of the manifesto that, would be a clear and democratic mandate for us to have that choice for people in scotland to have. you know, we have already been elected on a mandate for independence, but this would be an absolute underlining of the situation and to ignore that would be antidemocratic. laura about what the plan b people talk about if

borisjohnson continues, alex salmond said it was a once in a generation. there is a line of difference in the snp. some would say if westminster carries on saying no, we will not allow permission for the legislation for another referendum, if the snp gets a majority in may, then there are people in the snp who say we should do it anyway. but nicola sturgeon's words at the start of the conference we re words at the start of the conference were interesting and very clear. she talked about cool heads and pay shent persuasion. —— patient persuasion. sometimes that gets lost, because the snp have such an effective campaigning force. but there is a point of difference in there is a point of difference in the ranks of the snp about the best way forward and you have some prominent politicians likejoanna cherry who have made a case for a more aggressive stance, saying let's crack on with this somehow, you can't just wait around for westminster to be ground down. but

this is will be shaped by what happens in the elections in may. it is still a debate about the hypotheticals and it is still the case and there could be legal challenges to this but it is the case that the uk government would have to allow legislation to go forward. which side are you on? would you like the... i'm sorry, i will interrupt you, because nicola sturgeon starting her conference speech. you know, scotland shares our patron saint with countries like greece and romania. others, like poland, hold festivals and celebrations in his name. that is a small but timely reminder of our interconnectedness

and shared humanity. these connections run deep in the ethos of our party. the snp is the party of independence. we want scotland to ta ke independence. we want scotland to take her place as an equal, independent country, to be in the globalfamily of independent country, to be in the global family of nations, playing our part in building a better world. our vision is open, internationalist, and outward —looking. these values should never be taken for granted. the last few yea rs have be taken for granted. the last few years have shown us that. across the atlantic, the tide may be turning again in theirfavour, but here in the uk, the threat of brexit looms. injusta the uk, the threat of brexit looms. injust a month's the uk, the threat of brexit looms. in just a month's time, scotland will be forced, against our will, into a much more distant relationship with our friends across the european union. so before we go any further, i want to send this message to our european friends and neighbours. you are, and always will be, part of who we are. you are not

distant to us. to those of you who have come from other countries to live here in hours, thank you. please stay. and to the other countries of the eu, scotland wants to return, and we hope to do so soon, as an independent member state. of course, this year, we have faced an even bigger threat to the ties that bind us. covid has turned our way of life upside down. it has shaken us to our core. recently, i came across a photo taken just after my speech to conference last autumn. the auditorium was packed, and the photo shows me hugging an elderly lady at the side of the stage. when i look at it now, normal human connection in the midst of a crowded event, it is like viewing a different world, a bygone age. that is the cruelty of covid. it has turned those cherished connections

between people and countries into our biggest vulnerability. borders have been closed, travel restricted, and we have been forced to live most of this year apart from our nearest and dearest. this has been and still is the toughest of times. the challenges we have faced, all the sacrifices we have been asked to make, would have been unthinkable this time last year. if you feel utterly exhausted by it all, believe me, you are not alone. you know, politicians usually run a mile from admitting human frailty, but these are not normal times. i don't mind saying that these last nine months have been the hardest of my life. i have been the hardest of my life. i have had many, many dark days, and many sleepless nights struggling with the horrendous choices this pandemic has forced upon us. at times, ifelt pandemic has forced upon us. at times, i felt completely overwhelmed, as i'm sure many of you

have. and i feel a overwhelmed, as i'm sure many of you have. and ifeel a deep sadness for the lives that have been lost. not a single day passes that i don't think of families who are grieving. like governments everywhere, ours has had to wrestle with almost impossible decisions. every action necessary to reduce the harm of the virus and save lives puts jobs and businesses on the line, and causes suffering in so many other ways. but without these necessary measures, more lives will be lost. i have done my best every day to get these decisions as right as i can. and i have had the support of an outstanding team of ministers and advisers. i can never, ever thank them enough. but i know we have made mistakes, and the responsibility for that is mine and mine alone. ifeel responsibility for that is mine and mine alone. i feel it deeply and i a lwa ys mine alone. i feel it deeply and i always will. but i feel immense gratitude too. i want to thank

eve ryo ne a cross gratitude too. i want to thank everyone across the country for bearing the sacrifices asked of you with such strength and patience, and for the love and care you have shown each other. high pay particular tribute to our incredible nhs staff, our social care workers, our police officers and teachers, and every public servant and key worker who has contributed so much to helping us through. and now, as well as gratitude, and for the first time in what feels like forever, i also feel a sense of hope. there is light at the end of this tunnel. over the tough winter months that still lie ahead, they will be times when we struggle to see the light, but it is there, and it is getting brighter. we are going to come through this. we are going to come through this. we will pull through by continuing to love, ca re we will pull through by continuing to love, care for, and protect each other, and by placing ourfaith in the astonishing efforts of those in

the astonishing efforts of those in the global scientific and health community who are working so hard to produce vaccines and treatment. and when we do come through, as we will, we will put our shoulders to the wheel to build a better scotland. we are all living through this crisis together. every single one of us is struggling, but it would be wrong to pretend that we have all been affected equally. many will be desperate to get back to the way things were because life was good, but others will be desperate not to go back to the way things work, because life was much more difficult thanit because life was much more difficult than it should be. the pandemic has highlighted and deepened inequalities that have existed in our country for generations. and in so doing, it has laid down a challenge. the challenge of no longer accepting problems as inevitable or insoluble. this must bea inevitable or insoluble. this must be a moment, if i can paraphrase the late bobby kennedy, not to look at

the challenges our country faces and ask why, but to imagine instead how we ove rco m e ask why, but to imagine instead how we overcome these challenges and ask why not. covid has caused incalculable grief and suffering, but just maybe incalculable grief and suffering, butjust maybe we can draw something of value from it too. a determination to never again take for granted something as simple as giving another person a hug, and a renewed belief that what we once thought impossible can be done if we put our minds to it. in the face of crisis, we have shown that. we created new domestic supply lines for ppe. within days, whole new systems were built to deliver support to the vulnerable. rough sleepers were given homes. armies of volu nteers sleepers were given homes. armies of volunteers sprang into action. and ina volunteers sprang into action. and in a matter of weeks, a brand—new hospital was ready to open its doors. as we emerge from this crisis, we must harness that same

can—do spirit. things may have come apart this year all over the world, but we have an opportunity now to put them back together in a better way. we are a country of more than 5 million individuals, with different preferences, hopes and dreams. but we share common aspirations, fulfilling jobs, financial security, happy homes in healthy families, and a sense of optimism about the future. that is what everyone in scotla nd future. that is what everyone in scotland deserves. our task in the s&p is to do all we can to help people fulfil those aspirations. as a party, we are stronger than we have ever been. i want to thank you, our members, for your hard work and commitment. you are this party. you shape it, and it is down to your effo rts shape it, and it is down to your efforts that so many people now believe that independence is the best future for scotland. but we

must never forget this: we serve the people. they do not serve us. we earned the trust we enjoy today by focusing on what matters. that's what we must always do. that means protecting our nhs, giving young people the best start in life, creating jobs, taking action every day to improve lives, and yes, winning the powers that come with independence, so that together, we can build the better, fairer scotla nd can build the better, fairer scotland we know as possible. the independence case is a powerful one. more and more people in scotland are being persuaded by it. and i believe passionately that it is one with the power to unite. an independent country where those of us who live here shape the future and work together to overcome our challenges will be good for all of us. a

country fairer and more equal than it is now will be good for all of us. an economy that provides greater job and income security will be good for all of us. a scotland that is an equal partner with our friends in the rest of the uk and across europe will be good for all of us. so as we set about the task of rebuilding our country, there is a question that all of us in scotland must ask ourselves. the answer to this question will define our country's destiny and determine the life chances of this and generations to come. who do we want to be in the driving seat of shaping scotland's future? should it be scottish governments, of whatever party, elected by the people of scotland and with the priorities and interests of scotland at heart? or westminster governments that time

and again we have rejected? will we, the people of scotland, place trust in ourselves, or will we leave our future in the hands of a westminster system that is so clearly taking us in the wrong direction? you know, one of the arguments often used against independence is that, in tough times, we need the broad shoulders of the uk. well, right now, we are living through the toughest of times. the scottish government has not got everything right. farfrom government has not got everything right. far from it. government has not got everything right. farfrom it. but! government has not got everything right. farfrom it. but i doubt there are many people in scotland who would have wanted westminster to be more in charge of our pandemic response. in the depth of crisis, we have looked to entrusted our own government and parliament to steer us through. we should do the same now as we look to rebuild. our opponents will argue that independence is a distraction from that. they could not be more wrong.

if we want to make sure that the country we rebuild is the one we wa nt country we rebuild is the one we want it to be, with kindness, compassion, fairness, equality and enterprise at its heart, and not one built in the image of borisjohnson and his band of brexiteers, we must work to the right plan, with all the tools we need to do the job. independence is not a distraction from the task of post covid reconstruction. it is essential to getting that right. of course, we won't wait to be independent to start doing the right things now. i am about to give you concrete exa m ples of am about to give you concrete examples of how, even in areas that are still substantially reserved to westminster, the scottish government is nevertheless acting now to rebuild and renew. and as i do so, ask yourself this: if this is what we can do with limited powers, how

much more could we achieve if we didn't have one hand tied behind our backs? take social security. the pandemic has reinforced as never before the necessity of strong social protection that will be there for all of us in times of need. for many people in scotland, the post—war welfare state has been a reason to support the union, but both the values in the practical measures that underpinned that system a re measures that underpinned that system are being dismantled by westminster governments we don't vote for. when the pandemic hit, the uk had one of the lowest levels of statutory sick pay in the whole of europe. it still does. brutal cuts to welfare have forced families into poverty and ta ken to welfare have forced families into poverty and taken hundreds, even thousands of pounds a year, out of the pockets of those who can least afford it. westminster has given us the bedroom tax, benefit sanctions,

the bedroom tax, benefit sanctions, the two child cap, and the apparent rate clause. and the rhetoric has sought to divide and stigmatise. we ta ke sought to divide and stigmatise. we take a different approach. on saturday, john swinney made the truly landmark commitment that if we are re—elected next may, lunches and brea kfasts are re—elected next may, lunches and breakfasts will be available free of charge all year round for every primary school child in scotland. this, alongside the baby boks and the doubling of early years education, is part of our commitment to making scotland the best place in the world to grow up. at the heart of that commitment is the new scottish child payment. we will shortly become the only part of the uk to give low income families an extra £10 per week for every child, initially for children up to age six, and then for every child up to age 16. this has been described as a game changer in the fight to end

child poverty. the first payments will be made in february. but i know that forfamily will be made in february. but i know that for family struggling now, february is still a long way off. so iam announcing february is still a long way off. so i am announcing today a £100 million package to bridge that gap and help others struggling most with the impact of covid over the winter months. it will include money to help people pay theirfuel months. it will include money to help people pay their fuel bills and make sure children do not go hungry. it will offer additional help for the homeless and fund an initiative to get older people online and connected, and most importantly of all, it will provide a cash grant of £100 for every family with children in receipt of free school meals. the money will be paid before christmas, and families can use it for whatever will help them through the winter. that could be food, new shoes, or a winter coat for the kids. families will know best what they need.

that's not for government to decide. initiatives like this are notjust about providing practical help to those who need it most. they are an expression of our values and of the kind of country we are seeking to build. a more equal scotland, where we look out for each other in a spirit of solidarity and compassion. so as we rebuild our country, let us ask this: who do we want to be in charge of our social security system ? charge of our social security system? scottish charge of our social security system ? scottish governments charge of our social security system? scottish governments elected by you, with your priorities at heart, or westminster governments that have to be shamed into feeding hungry children? the pandemic has forced all governments everywhere to ta ke forced all governments everywhere to take decisions we could never have imagined just a year ago. the restrictions we've had to put in place are essential to prevent the virus spreading, to stop people getting ill and needing hospital

care, and to save lives. but we know they are having a huge impact on businesses and jobs. you know, the most effective way to support jobs right now is to control this virus. that's the only sustainable way to bring back the consumer and business confidence that will drive the economy forward. but there is real hardship today, and it is heartbreaking to see. we have already put in place a package of business support worth around £2.4 billion, and with optimism about vaccines now growing, i promise we will continue to do everything we can to help business through. for young people in particular, the impact has been severe. their school, college and university experiences have been disrupted, but the sense of hope that comes with being young, if i can remember that far back, is precious, so we must

help this generation of young people caught so cruelly in the eye of the covid storm. to do that, we have established the young person is' guarantee. it aims to give everyone aged 16—20 for the guarantee of work, education or training. and today, as part of that commitment, i can announce new support for apprenticeships. our pathway to apprenticeships. our pathway to apprenticeships programme will provide work —based training and week allowance for school leavers up to age 18. it will start by helping 1200 young people gain key skills in sectors like construction, business, it, engineering, and early years. we will also invest £15 million to help more employers take an apprentice. businesses want to give young people opportunities, but for many, the impact of the pandemic will make the costs too ha rd impact of the pandemic will make the costs too hard to meet. so we will

pay employers £5,000 for every new modern apprentice they take on between the ages of 16 and 24. for apprentices who are care leavers, disabled, orfrom apprentices who are care leavers, disabled, or from minority apprentices who are care leavers, disabled, orfrom minority ethnic communities, the £5,000 grant will be available up to the age of 29. more generally, for every apprentice aged 25 or over, we will pay employers a grant of £3500. this investment will enable thousands more young people to secure an apprenticeship as they start their working lives. these are the kind of measures we are taking, working alongside business and trade unions as part of a national mission to create jobs as we recover from covid. and of course, the economic recovery must be a green one. our new scottish national investment bank opened its doors just last week, and has the transition to net

zero as its top mission. we are investing heavily in heat and energy efficiency and supporting the creation of greenjobs. efficiency and supporting the creation of green jobs. we efficiency and supporting the creation of greenjobs. we must efficiency and supporting the creation of green jobs. we must not, and we will not, waver from our commitment to a net zero society by 2045. and as scotland prepares to host the global climate change talks in glasgow next year, it is good to know that sitting around the table will be a new us administration that shares that commitment. you know, covid has created a jobs crisis that none of us could have foreseen. but right now, we face another massive economic crisis, which was foreseeable. it was also entirely avoidable. when this pandemic hit, we put campaigning for independence on hold. that was hard, but we had no choice. ourfirst on hold. that was hard, but we had no choice. our first and on hold. that was hard, but we had no choice. ourfirst and only responsibility is scotland's government was to steer the country

through. but the uk government refused to do the same with their disastrous brexit plans. back in the summer, we said they should wait, that the brexit transition period must be extended. we produce detailed evidence of the hit to the economy that ending it in the middle ofa economy that ending it in the middle of a global pandemic would cause. the vote leave gang ignored us. so injust one month, on hogmanay, we face a hard brexit with either no deal or a low deal. scotland will be taken out of the european single market, which in population terms, is seven times the size of the uk. we will be taken out of the eu customs union, and the tories are already celebrating the end of freedom of movement. that would be huge, damaging change at the best of times, but in these more difficult times, but in these more difficult times, it is unforgivable. the short term damage of leaving the eu will

be severe, but the long—term impact will be worse. so again, the question we must ask is this: who do we trust to rebuild our economy for the future? a scottish government, elected by us, accountable, outward —looking, internationalist, and with scotland's interests at heart? boris johnson's band of brexiteers. you know, the tories have not won a general election in scotland for 60 yea rs, general election in scotland for 60 years, but that has not stopped them imposing damaging policies in scotland, policies like brexit, austerity, the rape close, trident, nuclear weapons. thankfully, the scottish parliament has offered protection in devolved areas like health, education, and the environment. but the tories don't like that. but they have a problem. they know they are unlikely to win an election to the scottish parliament, so they have decided

instead to undermine it and find another way to impose their agenda. having, in their minds at least, taken control having, in their minds at least, ta ken control back having, in their minds at least, taken control back from the eu, they now want to take it back from scotla nd now want to take it back from scotland too. borisjohnson is using brexit, which people in scotland voted overwhelmingly against, to fundamentally undermine the scottish parliament, which people in scotland voted overwhelmingly for. that is turning democracy on its head. to turning democracy on its head. to turn up the rule that allows them to press rules in devolved areas. they tore up the act which constrains the scottish parliament's tore up the act which constrains the scottish pa rliament‘s powers. tore up the act which constrains the scottish parliament's powers. they have even gone to court to strike down an act of the scottish parliament they did not like. and now, they have opened a new front, the internal market bill. this is quite simply a trojan horse that will allow westminster to work its way into the very heart of the devolution settlement. now, i

suppose the only thing i can see in their favour is that they are being perfectly open about all of this. they are not trying to hide their intent. here is what one tory said recently. the internal market bill is just the start. the uk government is just the start. the uk government is back in scotland. get used to it. charming bunch, aren't they? boris johnson himself has called devolution a disaster. and that was no slip of the tongue. from the perspective of borisjohnson and i was with his worldview, devolution has been disastrous. disastrous for them. —— and those with his worldview. it has loosened westminster control and given the people of scotland a voice, and of course, it has meant tory prime minister having to pretend to listen to first ministers like me, and believe me, they really, really don't like that. but to be serious, i know there are many people in

scotla nd i know there are many people in scotland who would prefer a stronger scottish parliament to independence. i respect that. but the hard truth is this: a stronger scottish parliament is not on offer from westminster. far from parliament is not on offer from westminster. farfrom it. they intend to take away powers our parliament already has, and we cannot say we haven't been warned. jacob rees mogg, that shining advertisement for modern democracy —— not —— he could not have been clearer last week. he wants to undo devolution. so the choice for scotla nd devolution. so the choice for scotland is pressing. are we prepared to have the powers we voted for stripped away at a time when we need them most? are we prepared for our scottish parliament to be undermined and dragged down by westminster? or will we decide to make our scottish parliament independent? the answer to that question matters for many, many reasons, and the nhs is close to the

top of the list. health policy may be devolved, but the nhs still faces westminster threats. trade deals could result in a big increase in the price our health service pays for drugs, reducing funds for patient care, and the end of freedom of movement with the eu is already making it so much harder to attract the nhs and social care staff we need. the challenges facing our nhs are huge. changing demographics meant that was true before covid. but covid has made it even more so. ican but covid has made it even more so. i can promise you today that the snp will continue to provide record investment in the nhs, but nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important to the health of our nhs than those who work in it. no matter how much technology we have or how many new drugs are developed, it is

the doctors and nurses, the clinical staff who support them, the porters, clea ners staff who support them, the porters, cleaners and admin staff that we depend on most. and of course, that is true of social care workers too. when they care for our loved ones, they can almost become like part of ourfamilies, and they can almost become like part of our families, and without them, the nhs simply couldn't do its job. so supporting our cherished nhs must a lwa ys supporting our cherished nhs must always start with valuing those whose hard work and commitment makes it what it is. back in the spring, at the height of the first wave of covid, many of us, publicly and often very loudly showed our appreciation for the work our nhs and social care staff were doing. people across many different occupations have been indispensable to the covid response, but there was, and remains, ithink, a particular recognition of the incredible, often heroic efforts of those who work in hospitals and

other health and care settings. that's why many of us put rainbows in our windows that's why many of us put rainbows in ourwindows and that's why many of us put rainbows in our windows and stood week after week on our doorsteps to applaud them. the applause was really important, but it was never enough. our appreciation must be shown on a more tangible way. now, as it happens, nhs staff in scotland are already the best paid anywhere in the uk, and adult social care workers here are paid at least the real living wage. that is a higher rate than many of their colleagues in england and wales. we are also in the early stages of negotiating a new pay dealfor the early stages of negotiating a new pay deal for nhs agenda for change star. the government's public sector pay policy will not make that easy, but we will do our level best to give nhs staff the pay increase they deserve. however, that negotiation will take time to

conclude. those who have worked in our hospitals and care homes, caring for the sick and dying, at the sharpest end of the covid trauma, deserve now. so i sharpest end of the covid trauma, deserve now. so i can announce sharpest end of the covid trauma, deserve now. so i can announce today that, on behalf of us all, the scottish government will give every full—time nhs and adult social care worker £500 as a one—off thank you payment for their extraordinary service in this toughest of years. those who work part—time will get a proportionate share. the money will be paid in this financial year, and it will be separate from any negotiations about pay for the longer term. there are no strings attached. a payment like this can never come close to expressing our full admiration for those who have cared for us. but to our health and care workers, it is a demonstration of what we collectively owe you and it isa what we collectively owe you and it is a heart felt thank you for the

sacrifices you have made. the scottish government is choosing to do this now from our own resources. we're asking nothing of the uk government with this one exception — because we don't control the full tax and benefits system, we don't have the power to make this payment tax—free, but prime minister, you do. so i am asking you this, please allow our health and care heros to keep every penny of scotland's thank you to them. do not take any of it away in tax. friends, across the range of public services, we have demonstrated the value of taking decisions in scotland. our government has delivered the baby box, giving every child in scotland the best start in life. record numbers of students from the most deprived backgrounds are now winning a place at university. council tax

bills remain lower. we have introduced a fairer social security system. we set up a new development bank. we have delivered nearly a hundred thousand affordable home and kept a hundred thousand mrifrs on our streets. that is —— police officers op our street. next may we will ask you the people of scotland to put your trust in us to continue that task of building a better country. i will ask you to judge us on our record and endorse our plans for the future. and in that election, i will seek your authority, no up with else's, for a legal independence referendum to be held in the early part of the new parliament. and then, collectively, we can answer those fundamental questions that i have posed today. who is best placed to lead scotland's recovery and build a better future? westminster

governments we don't vote for or independent scottish governments, of whatever party, chose by us with scotland's best interest at heart. we should have every confidence in what is possible if we do take our future into our own hands. farfrom being too wee, scotland is the ideal size to succeed. independent nations of similar size to us are amongst the wealthiest, the fairest and the happiest in europe. if denmark can bea happiest in europe. if denmark can be a successful independent country, why not scotland, if ireland can and norway can. we have the resource and the wealth and the talent, as an independent country we can decide how best to use those resources, all that wealth and all that talent. we will be the decision—makers. our

relationship with our closest friends in the rest of the uk will not end, it will be a stronger and better one, because it will be a partnership of equals. as equal partnership of equals. as equal partners we will co—operate and work together. we will learn from each other. but we in scotland will be decision—makers, able to chart our own course and build our own future. as an independent country we can be bridge builders. a bridge between the uk and europe, helping to create economic opportunity, deepen understanding and bring people closer together. as you know, i'm a bit of a book worm. the turkish novelist alis shafik wrote this, every human being is boundless and containing multitudes. ithink people in scotland recognise that

sentiment. we are a people co mforta ble sentiment. we are a people comfortable with multiple identities. as an independent country we can be decision—makers, partners, bridge builders and we have a right, if a majority of us wa nt have a right, if a majority of us want it, to choose that future. that right of self—determination cannot and will not be subject to a westminster veto. we' re and will not be subject to a westminster veto. we're seeing across the atlantic what happens to those who try to hold back the tide of democracy. they get swept away. so let us keep faith in the right and the power of the people to bring about democratic change. friends, in the hardest of times, this pandemic has taught us so much about ourselves and our country. and perhaps the biggest lesson of all is that we must have confidence in each other. we have a tough winter yet ahead of us, i pledge today that i

will dedicate every ounce of my energy to steer us through it as safely as i possibly can and then we have a great collective rebuilding task on our hands, creating jobs, protecting our precious nhs, building afairer protecting our precious nhs, building a fairer scotland and forging a new partnership of equals. that is the task that lies before using. and there is no one better to carry it out than the five and a half million of us who live in this beautiful, amazing country of ours. wherever we come from, and whoever we vote for, we all care for scotland. so let's get to it with hope, love and compassion. let's continue to support each other through these turbulent time and then together let's build that better scotla nd then together let's build that better scotland we know is possible. thank you so much for watching. that

brings us to the end of first minister nicola sturgeon's annual conference speech. it was prerecorded and virtual. drew hendry is still with us and he was listening to the speech. we haven't got a lot of time. let's get straight to it. she admitted in a candid way that mistakes had been made by the scottish government, nicola sturgeon, she said they hadn't got everything right, but i doubt many people in scotland would have wa nted doubt many people in scotland would have wanted westminster to be more in charge of our pandemic response. £8.2 billion has been give b to scotla nd £8.2 billion has been give b to scotland during this pandemic, doesn't that show the strength of being part of union. every government is doing what they should be doing, which is making the adjustments and doing the borrowing and creating the support for people during this pandemic. that is something that a government should be doing as a matter of course and something that an independent scotla nd something that an independent scotland would be doing, as many countries that are independent,

smaller and larger than scotland are doing to greater and different degrees at the moment. i don't think it is anything we shouldn't expect. people in scotland pay their taxes and you know they contribute to the economy. what we have seen is nicola sturgeon making it very clear that there is two very different governments at play here. one that had to be shamed into feeding hungry kids and another that is happy to feed hungry children and to pay a bonus to nhs and care homeworkers who have supported people. on the free school meals, why not do it now and why wait until after the election? there is a payment made immediately in december for people eligible for free school meals, that is being put up right a way and there is a £10 a week payment coming. sorry we are out of time.

good afternoon you are watching bbc news with ben brown. let me bring you the latest coronavirus figures across the uk in terms of cases. 12,330 new cases, compared to 12,155 the day before. so very similar. in terms of deaths within 28 days of a positive test, 205 deaths compared to 215 a day earlier. although there is sometimes a lag on a monday in terms of number of recorded deaths and cases. pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes across wales are to be banned from selling alcohol from friday and must shut at 6pm, as part of a further tightening of coronavirus restrictions announced by the first minister, mark drakeford. indoor entertainment and visitor attractions, including cinemas, museums and galleries,

will also have to close. mr drakeford said the tougher rules were needed to avoid up to 1,700 preventable deaths in wales over the winter. tomos morgan reports. since march, pryzm — cardiff's largest nightclub — has been open for only six days. with a capacity for 3,000 usually, current restrictions, table service and social distancing, has limited the venue to just 240. but from friday, alcohol will be banned from being sold in venues across wales, and hospitality will have to shut at 6pm, which means this place will have to close again. it's a lot of hard work to get everything right, train the staff, get the building sorted out, make it safe and secure for our customers to enjoy. so, yeah, mega—frustrating, and obviously it's costly and we've had no support from the government for nightclubs specifically.

so, yeah, it's a major kick in the teeth, really. the infection rate, and more importantly, the positivity rate of coronavirus in wales has risen over the past week or so, and in many areas of south wales, its higher now than they were before the recent firebreak lockdown. which has led to the welsh government implementing further restrictions, and another financial package to support the industries affected. we will provide the most generous package of financial assistance anywhere in the united kingdom. this will include £180 million of new help specifically for tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses, and that's in addition to the various support schemes available from the uk government. along with hospitality, cinemas and indoor entertainment will also have to close in an effort to curb transmission rates. these latest set of restrictions coming into force on friday will be

reviewed every three weeks. but with an agreement already in place between the devolved nations of the uk over easing between—household mixing over the festive period, it seems unlikely that these latest set of measures in wales will be eased before christmas. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. so, how are businesses who normally rely on the festive trading period coping? well we can speak now to chris frost — a partner at manorhaus boutique accommodation, which operates a hotel in ruthin and a b&b in llangollen. thank you for being with us. how are you affected by these new measures? well it's been a challenging year and the run up to christmas for us was to be a very important economic time for the hospitality and tourism sector in north wales. it is disappointing when the rates of

covid are so varied to see a one—size—fits—all approach which has been reached by the welsh government. businesses like mine have invested heavily to operate safely and now to see the new wales—wide rules come into force is disappointing. even as an accommodation provider we have no guidance as to whether we can accept bookings from outside wales and this chaotic approach from the goth is unacceptable and speaks volumes in terms of their approach to business and tourism and to north wales. we are mindful of the need to balance public health and the economy and while we are grateful for the financial support that is offered by the welsh government it must improve its delivery after the ers3 and the economic resilience no 3 that was delivered on a first come first served basis. that is no way to deliver support for the third

largest sector in wales and it was open for a 24 hour period and it was very challenging and we are in a challenging situation now. to pick up challenging situation now. to pick up on the specifics of what you can and cannot do, with your accommodation, you're saying you don't know which sort of guests you can don't know which sort of guests you ca n allow don't know which sort of guests you can allow to come and stay with us. we can only accept guests from within wales. we had three weeks of travel restrictions where only people from within our county could travel and we had a two week lockdown with the english lock condition we are only open to —— lockdown were only open to welsh visitors. once it ends, we rely on the north—west belt and we understood we would be able to open as normal to those guests and we understand the decision it to be made this wednesday to tell us whether these guests can stay with us on friday. we have reservations for this weekend. some have

cancelled, because they were so unclear about the guidelines. what about the ban on alcohol being sold? it is unworkable. it is just ridiculous, we can only open until 6am and we are a restaurant that would only open in the evening and our main market would be people who are staying with us and guests in our accommodation. it closes us down essentially. in the run up to christmas we would have had christmas we would have had christmas events, cinema events, family get togethers and that kind of thing. it has taken the bottom from that market. you're clearly angry, the first minister, mark dra keford, angry, the first minister, mark drakeford, said the rules are needed to avoid up to 1,700 preventible deaths over the winter. you can't argue with that, can you? you can't. we are mindful of the need to balance health and the economy. but when you look at the figures, they

va ry when you look at the figures, they vary enormously from north to south wales. if we could have more of a micromanaged approach, with health authorities or local authorities and we feel it would be fairer for businesses that can and want to operate. isn't the problem with that though and i hear what you say about different rates of infection and cases, but people travel around wales, just as they travel around other parts of the uk and it is hard to have you know smaller areas where different restrictions. yeah, we get that and we totally appreciate that if public health is the most important thing then the welsh government has to come up with a support package that saves businesses and keeps us going through the winter, so when the green button can be pressed we are still in place. at the moment we are in precarious ground and it's very difficult to see how the support will get many businesses through. there will be businesses lost and

livelihoods lost and lots of people out of work if we are not careful going forward to get us through to the spring. thank you. good luck for the spring. thank you. good luck for the festive period. i hope it is not too difficult for you. borisjohnson has called for his mps to show "unity and resolve" as he hopes to head off a conservative rebellion over plans to introduce a three tier system of coronavirus restrictions in england. later today he will publish an official impact assessment of the measures which will include the economic, social and health costs of the tiers. our political correspondent chris mason reports. the bleak reality of england's second lockdown. it's due to end on wednesday, but there are concerns the tiered system of restrictions that will come next will be painful too. some conservative backbenchers are making the government work hard for their support. it's quite right that parliament does its oversight role,

it scrutinises what is being put forward to see whether we can advance the proposals to a better place. a public that understands and respects the rules is more likely to follow them, and compliance from the nation is so important if we want to get through this. here's a quick reminder of the three tiers coming in england. the lightest tier, tier 1, will only apply in cornwall, the isle of wight and the isles of scilly. 32 million people will be in tier 2, where meeting inside each other‘s homes will be banned. and 23 million people will be in tier 3, where restaurants and pubs, among other places, will have to remain closed. but shops, hairdressers and gyms will reopen across england. we shouldn't stumble at this last hurdle. we've had to take some very difficult decisions. we need to see this through and stick to the course for now, but we will be giving parliament a say on the review of these measures later injanuary. i am currently in the restaurant at the minute and you can see the

perspex screens between each table. labour leader keir starmer has been on a virtual visit to a restaurant in what will be tier 3 manchester. here we are, with the same old same old, which is restrictions being put in place, but the financial package not being ready to go with it. it's exactly the same. one of my main criticisms of this government is that they have been very slow in their decision—making but they're not learning lessons. in the end, though, it's highly likely labour will back the government, the prime minister will get his way, this new system of tiered restrictions in england will come into force. but there is deep restlessness among many conservative backbenchers, real worry about the hospitality industry, deep concern about the wider economic devastation, and fears about how long this squeeze on our liberties could last. the government has clocked that and is seeking to reassure. so, the debate in here will be passionate, even if the outcome won't be a surprise. chris mason, bbc news,

at westminster. speaking at a pharmaceutical manufacturer in wales, the prime minister said he hoped the uk vaccine regulator will approve the use of a vaccine in december, and defended the tiers system amid criticism from inside his own party. we have got to remember that we've achieved a huge amount. if you look at where we were on november 5th, going into lockdown, the disease was climbing pretty steeply. there is no question that the collective action of this country arrested that increase, stopped it, we have now got it under control. the r is now below 1 got it under control. the r is now below1 again. got it under control. the r is now below 1 again. what got it under control. the r is now below1 again. what we can't do with a very incidence of the disease, it is still about one in a hundred,

something like that, across the country, we can't afford to take our feet off the throat of the beast, to ta ke feet off the throat of the beast, to take our foot off the gas, we can't afford to let it out of control again. the tiering system is tough, but it is designed to be tough and to keep it under control. i know that lots of people think they are in the wrong tier and i understand people's frustration. i particularly understand the frustration of the hospitality sector that has borne so much and been through so much in the last three months. we will do everything we can, as we have been doing to protect and to encourage that sector throughout the weeks and months ahead. but i do think it is important that we use the tiers, plus mass community testing, to continue to drive that disease down and tiers 2 and 3 can help to

achieve that. the prime minister. the singer rita ora has apologised for holding a 30th birthday party celebration at a restaurant in west london on saturday with a group of friends in breach of coronavirus restrictions. posting on instagram, the singer described it as an "inexcusable error ofjudgement". the metropolitan police confirmed that they were called to the casa cruz restaurant in notting hill to investigate a potential breach of covid regulations and officers were seen this morning at the venue of the party. well, joining me now is corrine sweet, a psychologist and psychotherapist. thank you for being with us. first of all, what are your thoughts about this? a lot of people, politicians including, the prime minister included, think it is a celebrity setting a very bad example? i'm afraid it is very bad timing, i work seeing a lot of people every week on

zoom and people are feeling lockdown fatigue like never before. people are feeling frustrated, especially young people who feel they're being un—farley sort of —— unfairly at a disadvantage. for people who are revered like rita ora to be flouting the regulation is very hard. people are feeling very frustrated with christmas coming, lots of people are confused, worrying about the new tier regulations. and there is a real feeling of this is tier regulations. and there is a realfeeling of this is not fair, there is an us and them situation, if you've got money, if you're a celeb, you can break the rules. i think it is unfortunately actually. she's apologised, as i said, but lawrence fox the actor, said i had a large group over to lunch and we hugged and ate and talked and put

the world to right, the the nhs cannot cope then the nhs is not fit for purpose. so he is not apologising, he is angry about the restrictions and defiant. well i think it is a very narcissistic viewpoints, we are used to see people like in positions of power. isa people like in positions of power. is a child's view of i want my fun and don't care about anyone else. in the first lockdown people were frightened and people hunkered down. in the second lockdown it has been a very different experience. one of the problems with christmas coming and it being mid winter is a lot of people will feel if they can do that, i can do anything. it is the barnard castle situation again. somehow people with money or power can do what they want and the rest

of us have to comply. it will bring about more anger and despair to see that kind of comment. it is not fair when the nhs is doing its level best to keep us well, hen there is other pressures on from other kinds of things in the winter. so i think this is a very narcissistic viewpoint and i don't think we should follow it. you talked about despair, the word on the black board behind you is "open". there is some hope with vaccines in the pipeline, the people you see, do you think people are just the people you see, do you think people arejust in the people you see, do you think people are just in despair or do they see hope? i'm seeing a lot of people, i see about 25 people a week foran hour people, i see about 25 people a week for an hour each. and all ages. all backgrounds. all ethnicities. and i'm seeing a huge amount of depression, anxiety and return to

addictive behaviour and marriages under strain and people are having to hold on and a lot of people are losing theirjobs, a lot of people trying to keep everything together. it isa trying to keep everything together. it is a really difficult time psychologically and yet i think interestingly, i think the fact there is a vaccine hopefully coming there is a vaccine hopefully coming there is a vaccine hopefully coming there is possibly an end in sight, it is actually harder to endure, because it is like in life if your running a race or climbing a mountain, the hardest part isjust before the end. and you have hunkered down and held on and kept going and you look and you can see the end, but you can't get there yet. i think that creates more anxiety in people, even more stress, because they want to get there, we all want to fast forward to what boris is sort of wonderful language about the promised land and the

beast, we all want to get through this, but we still have to keep going, because we are in the winter and there is a lot yet to endure. so ican and there is a lot yet to endure. so i can understand people breaking the rules, but we don't want to get a sense of green lighting any activity, because this has never been so important for people to defer their gratification until next year, rather than going for the immediate gratification of the pagan winter festivals where we want to go berserk. when you see people, what can you do to help them, or do you just listen to their anxieties?” have worked a six—day week through the pandemic as a psycho therapist andi the pandemic as a psycho therapist and i have never worked as hard and there is a lot of us behind the scenes doing a will the of work. i a lwa ys scenes doing a will the of work. i always say people need a damn good listening to. the most you do is

help people just unload all the stuff they‘ re help people just unload all the stuff they're carrying. the second thing is to give them a framework so they can actually keep going. and as they can actually keep going. and as the board is behind, you know, we have to breathe, we have to keep hoping and we have to keep our heads down and just believe we will get through this and basically people have to draw on all their inner resources to just keep level and keep sane. and if you can reach out to positive relationships in your life, if you cannot hurt yourself through addictions and acting out behaviours, which will bring you more trouble down the road and if you can get enough sleep, and in fa ct you can get enough sleep, and in fact sleep is really important at this time of year. you know we can get through this. and keeping your relationshiples afloat —— relationships afloat using this fantastic technology and allowing yourself the good things in life,

like good food and rest and laughter, we have to stay connected and you know there will be an end to this, we will get through it. but to break the rules and just be self—ish is not the way to go about it. thank you very much. while we were talking there, we have had the impact analysis from the government. which is what the government. which is what the government were saying they were going to give to members of parliament, who wanted more details about the new three tiered system of restrictions, many of those tory mps angry about the restrictions, threatening to vote against them this week and that impact statement they have been asking for has been published. we will get the details of it, it is 48 pages, so a lengthy

assessment. but our political correspondent will talk us there i that. she is reading it now and getting the main points. now the weather. there is another murky start across southern wales and the midlands and southern wales and the midlands and southern counties of england. since then we have seen the rain moving southwards through the day and that has been washing the mist and fog out. visibility has been picking up. this afternoon is cloudy with rain. brighter in scotland with a mixture of sunshine and showers. the brighter conditions could spread to northern ireland and the north of england. but tonight the skies clear for east scotland, much of england and wales. it will clear long enough to give us some patches of frost. a chilly start on tuesday. tuesday, well for east wales, most of england and eastern scotland we get off to a wright start. —— bright start. cold

northerly wind and temperatures around the east coast five or six celsius. to the north—west milder through the day, as the milder air ray rooifs there will be —— arrives there will be cloud and drizzle. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: tough new coronavirus restrictions for wales from friday, with pubs and restaurants banned from selling alcohol in the run—up to christmas. business owners say it's a kick in the teeth. hard work to get everything right, train the staff, get the building sorted out and make it safe and secure for our customers to enjoy, so, yeah, mega— frustrating, and obviously, it's costly. the government publishes its impact report —

its impact report outlining the data backing up their decision behind england's new tiered system. it comes as the pm tries to head off a revolt from his mps ahead of a commons vote tomorrow. singer rita ora apologises for breaching england's lockdown rules, the prime minister says "every member of the public, including celebrities" should follow the regulations. thousands ofjobs at risk as sir philip green's retail empire, which includes topshop, burton and dorothy perkins, verges on collapse. the snp leader and scotland's first minister addresses her party's annual conference, with a push for scottish independence and pledging a one—off £500 "thank you" payment for nhs staff and social workers. more on that impact assessment now, which as we were just saying, has been published by the government. it outlines the reasons behind the new three tier system in england. let's

speak to our political correspondent ellie price, and the political context here is that a lot of tory backbenchers are very angry, incandescent, some of them, with the new restrictions imposed on parts of england, and this is what they were asking from from the government? that's right, there have been effo rts that's right, there have been efforts to placate them over the weekend, not least the prime minister's promised that they will be another vote at the end of january on these restrictions, but like you say, this is what they have waited for, the impact assessment, on the effects on health, society and the economy. it is 48 pages long and the economy. it is 48 pages long and they have not had a chance to read it about the significance is exactly what will be in these 48 pages, whether there will be enough detail in there, like you say, to placate a number of very angry conservative mps, who are, after all, worried about the impact of this new tiered system will come into force if this vote goes ahead tomorrow on wednesday morning. so i think it is quite interesting that

the opening line to this, the nuances of how to tackle the virus are not straightforward and interventions themselves do not have straightforward effect. that is something of, of course, we already knew, but the import will be if there is enough detail in here and there is enough detail in here and the health, economic and social impacts to placate a number of conservative mps. there is the covid recovery group, a number of around 70 conservative mps who have been calling for this impact assessment. we've had an initial response from them, pointing out that it was about 4pm in the afternoon they received this, which they see as very late in the day, so they are quite angry this hasn't been made available before, but they say they will now digest this information and come back with their findings tomorrow. of course, we will find out their findings tomorrow when they go to the vote on it. and as you suggest, there is quite a lot in it. skimming through a few bits of the report that are not hugely surprising, it

says, " the government has and will continue to pursue the best outcomes, continually reviewing the evidence and seeking the best health, scientific and economic advice". that kind of thing probably isn't going to change any tory backbench opinion. then there is data in there. our number data, case number data, gdp, economic data, but presumably most of that is in the public domain anyway? a lot of the economic the stuff was from the op! that we had last week at the spending review, so i think that is the point to go through. —— the ob r. so the point is to go through it with a fine tooth comb and work out what is new. i think for a number of conservative mps, this probably will be enough. it will possibly be the option that they have been given an honourable climb—down, if you will, for those not really wanting to vote against the government, and there have been some conservative mps who have been some conservative mps who have changed their mind over the weekend, it is worth pointing out. a

number of them, for example, are angry that areas have been lumped in together, villages and towns lumped in together with bigger cities. an example given was that of kent, where the entire county of kent was being put into tier 3 even though it is pockets that are bad and pockets which are absolutely fine. a number of mps have sort of decided that the government explanation for that, which is that it is notjust about the area, but they way that things are connected, hospitals and infrastructure, so for some that had been enough. i think what is worth seeing in all of this is that there is this vote tomorrow, and obviously, the likelihood of the government facing a defeat on this is very small, because of course, labour have already indicated that they will probably not vote against they will probably not vote against the government on all of this. of course, there has been plenty of criticism from labour over the government's handling of this pandemic, but fundamentally, labour have never voted against any covid health restrictions, they are not expected to again tomorrow. so as i

say, the likelihood of any major defeat for the government is small, but of course, any government, especially one with an 80 seat majority, doesn't like to have to persuade its own mps to vote with it. thank you very much indeed. let's speak to one of the government's mps now, damian green, who is the mp for ashford in kent, which will go into tier 3. he has previously said he will vote against the new tier system u nless unless he sees convincing evidence. i don't know if you have had a chance to look at this impact assessment yet on whether you are convinced by it? i'm afraid it arrived in my inbox about ten minutes ago, so no, i have not looked at it yet. what are you going to be looking for a net that might persuade you to support the government on this? new evidence, and the particular problem that i and the particular problem that i and some other kent mps had was that because of the... you know, it is a very large county, and some of the boroughs in the county have got some

of the biggest rates in the country, so should obviously be in the highest tier. others have some of the lowest rates in the country, so it is not obvious why they should be put in the tier. so i will take a look at the evidence and see, as i say, if there is new and convincing evidence that impels me to change my mind on that point. do you think you on a number of collea g u es do you think you on a number of colleagues of yours, if you did vote against the government, i mean, you could stop these restrictions going through, couldn't you, depending on what the labour party do? the indications are that they will probably support the government. yes, i don't know what the labour party body. i don't think they have been definitive on that my underlying fear is that if you put restrictions on people in areas where they think they are not needed, then they will be more inclined to ignore them, and the one thing we know is that the more of us

behave properly and obey all the rules, which is what most people have been doing most of the time through these various phases of lockdown is in tiers and so on, then the better off we are, and my fear is, if people think, actually, these restrictions are ridiculous and should not apply around my part of the world, then they won't obey them, and the infection will spread more easily. i appreciate that you have to let people know in advance which tier they are in, and we think that instead of a county or regional basis, it should be done on a borough basis. everyone knows the borough, the district that they live m, borough, the district that they live in, so when you have a particular spot... you see everyone knows the borough they live in, but of course, people move around. i mean, i'm from kent. i know everybody. you move around kent, don't you? you don't just stick to your borough, and the dangerous, you have areas that are

very, very high on a number of cases and infections, and areas that are very low, but as you say, you have to draw the boundary somewhere, and that's what the government have done. yes, you have to draw the boundary somewhere, but i don't think you have to draw it in such a large scale. you will get boundary issues at county boundaries, or the one between england and scotland and england and whilst. there are internal boundaries in the united kingdom. it has struck us all the way along that because boroughs in kent are large enough, it is impossible to have those as the areas, and that way, you would get a better buy in to the restrictions, because everyone in those areas recognises that they are in a set of restrictions they regard as fair. all right, well, thank you very much indeed, damian green. good to your analysis. —— good to get your analysis.

we can also get some reaction from the liberal democrats now. sir ed davey is the party's leader and joins us from westminster. what are your views? week the liberal democrats take this pandemic very seriously and believe the need to be restrictions. we cannot vote for this particular plan. it is arbitrary, confusing, and chaotic, and as it stands, the government's incompetence has led to the uk having highest death rate in europe. we have spent the most money trying to sort this out than any comparable country, yet we have the weakest economic recovery, and frankly, enough is enough. the government have to come forward with a much clearer set of plans based on evidence, far more transparent, and working with local authorities. you say it is arbitrary and confusing, but what would you do specifically, if you are in power? what kind of restrictions, and everyone accepts there must be restrictions, would you have? well, for example, the arbitrariness is that these restrictions suggest we would have

2000 people going to a sporting event but two people can't go to a pub. that makes no sense. because it is so arbitrary and confusing and chaotic, people won't have trust in them, and the real danger is this government, partly because of pass incompetence and now because of these confusing proposals, will lose these confusing proposals, will lose the confidence of the public. the liberal democrats have said all along... sorry, my question was what you would do. if you are in power, what sort of tiered restrictions would you have a crossing in? festival, we'd work with local authorities to make sure that he has made sense and that people were basing them on the evidence, and it is clearly not the case. you hit from damian green, a conservative, that he does not believe that is the case in kent. —— you heard from damian green. so that is what we would do firstly. secondly, we would be much more transparent about the criteria for people to come out of the tier system. that has not been the tier system. that has not been the case in the past. it has to be the case in the past. it has to be the case in the past. it has to be the case going forward. thirdly, we wa nt the case going forward. thirdly, we want this package to have more support for some of those badly

affected, particularly the hospitality sector. i have written to the prime minister today and set down the things that liberal democrats are looking for in a new regime, and if he can provide that, we will vote for it, but at the moment, the scheme is, as i say, so arbitrary, confusing and chaotic, it simply cannot get... i'm just trying to establish exactly what you would do that would be different. are you saying areas now in tier 3, for example, you would move down to tier 2? are you saying you would not do it by county, but by much smaller areas? the point is, a lot of these tiering arrangements we have put in place don't really make sense. some towns and villages are in tier 3 that have got a low infection rate, significantly lower than some towns and villages in tier 2. if you talk to some people and local authorities in some of these areas, they say those areas just don't make sense. that is the problem. i am happy to a nswer that is the problem. i am happy to answer your question. we are saying,

yes, there needs to be tiering restrictions absolutely. liberal democrats believe this is a huge crisis. we've got to be strong and public health messages, and put safety of the public first. but that is only going to work if they make sense based on evidence, take local authorities with them, and the government have failed yet again to do that. in response to that, the government would say they have provided lots of evidence, response and case rates around the country in detail. michael gove wrote in 2000 word essay in the papers on saturday explaining all the thinking and rationales behind it. it is a bit disingenuous to say there isn't any evidence for these restrictions. look at the latest impact assessment that came out ten minutes ago, and see if that improves the evidence that has been provided to mps up until now, but frankly, it has only come out in the last ten minutes, and they have been pushing forward these proposals, which when you talk to people in the local areas, they

are saying don't make sense. so we have been responding to people on the ground who say they can't understand why the government is taking this approach. they don't think it will help tackle the virus, and indeed, in some cases, might make it even worse, so we are responding to what local people are saying in many areas around the country. if the government have different evidence, of course we will take that seriously. we have to work together to get this right, but i'm afraid... i'm not apologising for losing faith in the way this government has behaved, because so many of the restrictions, they gave you the example about sporting events... it is totally arbitrary. the government mustjust do a lot better if they are going to take parliament with them. so would you say they need to be fewer areas of england in the tier 3 restrictions on fewer and tier 2 restrictions? probably, but they might need to be some changes in between. the restrictions need to be based on clear evidence that is explained to mps, to local authorities, so people

can have confidence in the decisions being right. i have spoken to local authority leaders who can't understand why some areas have been lumped in with others, because actually, those communities just don't make sense in the way people travel and work, and yet areas that have actually got lower infections are being brought into areas that have got much higher ones. but the government would say they have this over manchester and the row between the government and andy burnham, for example, and they say in the end, the government are getting their scientific advice, they have to make decisions, in the end, local leaders will want to support their businesses and the economy, but the national government have to make decisions based on the health advice and scientific advice they are getting. well, liberal democrats have been the first to argue throughout this at the government need to listen to the scientists and base their arguments on the evidence, and indeed, one reason we said that there should have been an earlier national circuit breaker was because the scientist had told the

government on september 21 that was what was required. the government reg retta bly what was required. the government regrettably ignored the advice of the scientists, didn't follow that, and regrettably, we later had to go into a much stricter lockdown for longer. so liberal democrats are very much on the side of the scientific evidence, but we are fea rful scientific evidence, but we are fearful that the government yet again isn't following it properly, and that's why we're taking a lot more convincing this time. we have throughout this voted with the government, voted with restrictions. sometimes reluctantly, but we have followed their advice when it has been backed clearly by the scientific advice. i'm afraid what has been put forward last weekend over the weekend looks so arbitrary and confusing, we don't think we can back it. we will look at the impact assessment that has just been published, but on the face of it, this is a plan which isn't going to work, and they need to listen to what we're saying, what their own backbenchers are saying and what other scientists are saying and come up other scientists are saying and come up with a better plan very quickly.

sir ed davey, thank you very much indeed for making very clear your party ‘s position. thank you very much. party leader of the live democrats. —— the liberal democrats. our health correspondences with us. we are looking forward to another coronavirus briefing from downing street. first let me ask you about the number of cases, and the numbers we have had in the last hour, and the new coronavirus death figures. yes, the new case figures are at 12,330, and the good news is that when we look at the average rates, because these jump around a bit from day to day, during lockdown, the number of new infections has fallen by 40%, and that chimes with the surveillance programme run called react, which suggested that during lockdown, infection rates have fallen by 30%. so it seems like it's beginning to have a real impact on

those infections. we are also beginning to see admissions to hospital is beginning to fall slightly, though there are still 16,000 patients in hospital across the country, compared to a peak of about 20,000 in the spring. so very high numbers of people in hospital, but the number of new people coming in everyday is dropping. in terms of deaths, 205 deaths reported. we often see on a monday a lower number often see on a monday a lower number of deaths, and at the moment, we are averaging around 500 deaths a day. that is beginning to slow. the rise in deaths we have seen over the past month is slowing, maybe even plateauing, so again, signs that the lockdown has worked. throughout this, we have talked to you about testing and testing figures. a lot of criticism of the government on that over the last few months. what are the latest figures on the latest trends and testing? it will be interesting later on at the press

briefing with matt hancock, the health secretary, when he will be joined by general sir gordon messenger, who heads up the community testing programme. this is separate from the testing figures we talk about day in and day out, and these are the rapid tests that don't have to be sent off to the lab for processing, and they are being used to spot asymptomatic cases in the community. we already know there is programme to roll this out to care home visitors coming to increase the frequency of nhs staff testing, and they are also used in a mass population scale in liverpool. it was the sort of moonshot programme the government referred to a few months ago. what we saw in liverpool was over 100,000 people tested. that will not be possible in every place, but i think what we'll hear about later is how local areas are going to these rapid tests that can return results in less than an hour to

maybe target workplaces, high—risk workplaces like food factories, maybe to do some stuff around schools and go into neighbourhoods where they know there is lots of infection, see if they can spot those mild cases and asymptomatic cases to get on top of the virus, and this will be crucial in those areas where those high rates, the tier 3 areas that we have been hearing about, because the government believes that by using this rapid testing, we can get those areas out of those high tiers and into low tiers in the months to come. and we will be hearing a bit more about the latest on the vaccines in about the latest on the vaccines in a moment, but what is the position now in terms of getting regulatory approvalfor various now in terms of getting regulatory approval for various vaccines we have heard about for use in this country, and in terms of orders of stocks? there has been another development today. the moderna vaccine, data on those trials have been sent to us

and european regulators for emergency approval. it's one of three front runners. the astrazeneca — oxford university vaccine and the pfizer vaccine, the date and those have already sent to be regulators, soi have already sent to be regulators, so i think we will hear very soon, maybe even this week from regulators. the nhs is prepared to start rolling out a vaccination programme. it has been told to be ready for the 1st of december, which is tomorrow. we are likely to see gps takea is tomorrow. we are likely to see gps take a lead in offering the vaccine. older age groups will be prioritised first along with health and care workers. in terms of stocks, we know for the pfizer vaccine, we have pre—ordered 40 million. 10 million, we are told, we could get before the end of the year. the oxford university — astrazeneca one, we have pre—ordered millions and there are already

several available in this country. the moderna one, sent for regulatory approval, we will not get any stocks of that until the spring. but the first jabs could be of that until the spring. but the firstjabs could be take place in the next few days, potentially? potentially. yeah. nick, good to talk to you. more now on the vaccine situation. a little earlier, we heard from the prime minister, who said that we could have a vaccine approved before christmas. the newly appointed health minister in charge of vaccine rollout, nadhim zahawi, has told bbc news that the government is looking at ways for people to show they've been vaccinated — so they can access the hospitality industry. we are looking at the technology, and of course, a way of people being able to inform their gps that they have been vaccinated, but of also, i think you will also find bars and cinemas and other venues will probably also use that system, as they have done with the app. i think pa rt they have done with the app. i think part of the reason the app has been

so successful, we are touching earn just under 19 million downloads of the app, is that a lot of places you go to there have got the qr code from the nhs, you scan, for your own safety, and so i think in many ways, they're sort of pressure will come from both waves, from the service providers, who will say, demonstrate to us that you have been vaccinated, but also, we will make the technology is easy end as accessible as possible, but i think you will probably find many service providers will want to engage in this in the way that they did with the app. an update of the latest market numbers for you now. this is how london and frankfurt ended the day, and in the states and the nasdaq. .. well, ended the day, and in the states and the nasdaq... well, we can't actually show you those, but will bring them to you later. well, the communities secretary robertjenrick has been asked whether mr zahawi's suggestion there.

the public might be asked to provide proof that they've been vaccinated before purchasing or accessing certain services. we'll hear his answer in a moment — but first, mrjenrick wanted to explain government wants to do for christmas shopping. well, christmas shopping can be hectic at the best of times. we want it to be safe this year, and people to be able to enjoy it in a pleasant way, so we're changing the planning laws to enable to stay open long into the evening, potentially even 24 hours a day in some places, and we are encouraging local councils to do everything they can to support those businesspeople and entrepreneurs to help them through a very challenging period, and to members of the public, i'm really encouraging them to get out and support their local high this christmas. do you think you should encourage people to leave their christmas shopping later? well, i don't know. we'll have a busy period ahead of us. the national restrictions are coming. in any

tiers, nonessential retail will be open, so this is a great time not just to purchase things online but to pack local high street stores, the independent local retailers who have had the most challenging year imaginable, and get out and support them. the vaccine minister suggested that restau ra nts the vaccine minister suggested that restaurants or retail shops would prevent people from coming in if they didn't get a vaccine done. there might be some kind of freedom pass or passport. is that the plan here? the vaccine is not yet being rolled out. there is still some way to go. we will obviously be be considering all the options, but our priority at the moment is to get nonessential retail open across the country and to support those businesses as much as we can. we will hear more from the government at the top of the hour with the downing street briefing and coronavirus, and we will hear from the health secretary matt hancock, and also the national medical director of nhsengland, professor stephen palace and of the

operations for community testing, general sir gordon messenger. they will talk to us in a few moments time. let's talk to chris fawkes for the weather in the meantime. hello, there. monday's weather started off on a similar note to what we had over the weekend, with extensive low cloud, mist and fog patches around, particularly across east anglia, southern england, the midlands and southern parts of wales, as well. but since then, we have seen some rain move down from the north and this rain has been washing some of that mist and fog out of the atmosphere, so visibility has been improving, although many of us will stay cloudy, still with some patches of rain around through the afternoon. across northern areas of the uk, particularly scotland, the skies will brighten, but there will be some heavy showers here, as well. overnight, the rain will continue to pull away. clear skies follow across most of england, wales, eastern scotland for a time, long enough to allow temperatures to dip down below freezing, so we are looking at a touch of frost to start the day on tuesday. for tuesday, cold air to start off with is in place, but then we have this mild air moving end of the atlantic. this is a warm sector pushing

in from the north—west. i think for many across eastern wales, most of england, eastern scotland, a bright start with some sunshine. cold northerly winds. temperatures struggling with highs of around five or six celsius for some, but across the north—west it does turn milder. with that, a lot of low cloud. there will be mist and fog patches again over the high ground and some patches of drizzle around, as well. further changes in the weather picture as we get towards the middle part of the week. another cold front will be sliding its way south eastwards. this introducing much colder air across the north—west. for england, wales, a lot of cloud. there will be some patches of light rain and drizzle as that system pushes south—eastwards. the skies brighter for scotland, northern ireland and northern england. strong winds for western scotland and plenty of showers going right the way across scotland, some for northern ireland, some for the far north of england. turning colder. temperatures between five and seven degrees. we have some wet and windy weather on the way for thursday. the heaviest rain for wales and southern counties of england. showers in scotland. well, they are going to be turning increasingly wintry with some snow,

particularly above around 300 metres elevation as the colder air starts to really dig in. and we end the week with low pressure slowly pushing to the eastern side of the country. now, this low pressure could well start to engage some of that colder air, so we may well see some of the rain turn to snow, but more especially over high ground, probably above 200 or 300 metres elevation. nevertheless, as we end the week, there could be a few of us that wake up to scenes like on friday.

hello, a very good afternoon to you. i'm ben brown. we're poised to bring you today's coronavirus briefing from downing street. first of all, our headlines: the government publishes its impact report outlining the data to backing up their decision behind england's new tiered system. wales is imposing stricter coronavirus measures, with all pubs and restaurants closing from 6pm every evening. and the prime minister says "everyone including celebrities" should follow the regulations, as rita ora says she made an serious error of judgment by celebrating her birthday at a restaurant.