we do not give up our freedoms likely. what we need today is a policy of maximum protection for minimum damage. this policy is not it andi minimum damage. this policy is not it and i hope the next iteration in february does a much betterjob. it's a pleasure to follow the right honourable gentleman. i agree with him andi honourable gentleman. i agree with him and i will be voting against these regulations. but he has persuaded me to change what i was going to say by the power of his speech because we don't have to look to germany and vietnam to see what it is necessary to do, we have to look at 200 years of public health in this country. which has always been done at a local level. one of the problems with this system is that the government have followed, like all governments, they want to centralise things, they want to take

control and it is notjust the fact that people suffer financially and won't isolate themselves, it is that the central system is so slow at getting the information out to people that they need to isolate, but by the time it has got there the £22 billion or whatever we have spent on it has been wasted. it is gone, information is useless. and we've also seen evidence public health england have withheld information from a local public health authorities. if we want when we come back in two months' time to get it right we must decentralise the expenditure and get it into public health systems. what i was going to say before the right honourable gentleman spoke was there is not a way forward where people don't die in the situation, that is tragic and everybody in this house wa nts to tragic and everybody in this house wants to minimise the number of deaths but sometimes because though

if we have the most restrictive measures, which will undoubtedly stop people contracting covid, that will be fine. it is not. the first lockdown lead to people dying from cancer is lockdown lead to people dying from cancer is cancer lockdown lead to people dying from cancer is cancer services were withdrawn, people did not go to hospitals and if they went to hospitals and if they went to hospital they often did not get treatment. the number of people dying at home increased dramatically over that period. 50 the proposals before us today were lead to more of that, withdrawal of the health services from some people. there will be extraordinarily damaging to the economy of greater manchester and other parts of the uk, and remember poverty kills. it is not just cancer and covid that kills, poverty kills. people commit

suicide, children who have had the education withdrawn, suicide rates among children are up a0%. there is huge damage. damage across the board. if we look at the basis of the decisions, people say it has been informed by the science. well, i cannot see that. when we had the secretary of state for health before thejoint secretary of state for health before the joint committees of health and science on the 23rd of november and we asked him about what criteria he is going to use to determine which areas one into which tear and he could not tell us, has there been a cost— benefit analysis, he could not tell —— you could tell us because greater manchester were just told them he had got his figures wrong. in effect greater manchester was going to be punished, he did not use the word punished, for taking the time to put it right on the science and the detail of what was

happening. when it came... i will give way. just to say this, the science is not the same as the opinion of a single scientist.|j could not agree more. one can go right away from the barrington group to the people advising the government, if you have science sending rockets to the moon it is exact but besides an epidemic is not, it is open to different opinions. what i was going to —— science on an epistemic not exact. the proposals will wreak economic havocin the proposals will wreak economic havoc in greater manchester. and we are told other weekly that were not present when the chancellor of the duchy of lancaster was making his proposals to lockdown london the prime minister so that you cannot do

that, it will cost half a million jobs. what that means to me is this government are valuing jobs in london overjobs in manchester and elsewhere. andrea leadsom. on bonfire night normally a superb family occasion, this house are locked down our nation for the second time, inflicting great damage on the livelihoods, mental health and the well—being of our constituents, all in the interests of the greater good. i reluctantly supported that lockdown but made clear to my whips i would not vote foran clear to my whips i would not vote for an extension unless it was made clear to me why such an extension would be the lesser of all evils and lam afraid would be the lesser of all evils and i am afraid the document provided by the government yesterday does little to address my concerns and therefore does not allow me to reassure my constituents. it deals with the here and now, it does not provide an analysis of the long—term impact on people's lives, nor does it explain

why south northamptonshire must be in tier2, why south northamptonshire must be in tier 2, there is no analysis of the counterfactual, what would happen if there was no lockdown and people were given sound advice rather than forced in law to comply. and here is a fundamental concern, we and here is a fundamental concern, we already know compliance is a serious issue in some places and sectors, there are lots ofjokes circulating about how you can eat a substantial scotch egg with your point in the pub but not a bag of pork scratching is and how different household meeting inside the restau ra nt household meeting inside the restaurant will be a rebranding of their party as a business gathering but in fact these are very serious. what the graphic that this those with the desire to get around the rules will do so and those who are more compliance will suffer the frustration of seeing others are flouting the rules that they themselves do not break. i have many concerns, a constituent told me recently she finds it unbelievable that a mixed group of tradesmen can work in an enclosed space, one of

them being her own husband, yet she has been unable to see her daughter indoors in their spacious sitting room even though she would of course ta ke room even though she would of course take extra special care. how is this fairor take extra special care. how is this fair or logical? just yesterday i was speaking to primary school head teachers who raised with me there are grave concerns that they are on their knees working to ensure every child can be in school but they are finding other services unavailable to them such as child psychology assessments and supervision for nonresident parents who all seem to be only sporadically available and neverin be only sporadically available and never in person. how was this fear oi’ never in person. how was this fear or logical? last week i held a meeting of myself and the business clu b meeting of myself and the business club talking to small businesses who are flat out trying to survive and preserve their life's work. one is a golf and hotel complex, that is still unable to provide a service compared to the big fast food chains who can outcompete through takeaways and deliveries. another, a wedding

event organiser with a beautiful stone barn that can seat up to 80 com pletely stone barn that can seat up to 80 completely socially distanced but theirfor completely socially distanced but their for a completely socially distanced but theirfor a wedding completely socially distanced but their for a wedding and completely socially distanced but theirfor a wedding and events rather than a licensed restaurant so cannot open. then there is the long—term health implications. my great fear is my constituents are not accessing health care as they do not accessing health care as they do not want to bother anybody and speaking to gps in my area they share that fear. what were the long—term mental health impact b of this year's long—term mental health impact b of this yea r‘s tsunami long—term mental health impact b of this year's tsunami of loneliness, particularly for those with memory loss for whom this isolation has been so disastrous? those who have had a baby in lockdown who have been isolated with virtually no face—to—face help. i was concerned on the 5th of november and i remain so today. my final question to the government are why are we going back into the tiering systems, lockdown worked or not? what are demerits of the ongoing constraints on of my constituents versus the ongoing

visible cost to them —— what are the merits? i want to support might government this evening but i cannot and will not inflict deliberate harm in my constituency unless i can see for myself to do nothing would be worse. i welcome the opportunity to speak in this very important debate and it will have a huge impact on my constituents and those across the country who face the prospect of entering tier 3 tomorrow. since restrictions began in march we have all made huge sacrifices to curb the spread of this deadly virus which i know from personal experience can be devastating. we have all accepted we have a role to play to protect those who are more vulnerable and we have all seen the impact this virus has had on communities around the country, especially those who are elderly, from more disadvantaged backgrounds or those from black, asian and minority ethnic

communities. as we leave our second national lockdown we must recognise we are national lockdown we must recognise we are where we national lockdown we must recognise we are where we are national lockdown we must recognise we are where we are because the previous three tier system did not work. nobody wants a repeat of that and we must work. nobody wants a repeat of that and we must ensure work. nobody wants a repeat of that and we must ensure that the new system protects lives, supports businesses and now area is left behind. the system which has been proposed sadly does not achieve this. despite the excellent work of art local slough borough council, public health teams and volunteers, the current high weekly infection rate in slough has placed us in a very high tier. it is right with high coronavirus numbers stricter measures should be implemented to protect lives however it was to my absolute astonishment upon checking nearby areas that slough was a dot of red in a sea of orange of tier 2s despite committing to a regional approach, slough has been made a special case segregated from the

rest of berkshire county and the wider region. it appears, based on an arbitrary political decision and an arbitrary political decision and an anomaly nationwide. areas in essex, london and surrey all have local authorities with comparable if not higher infection rates to my slough constituency and similar action has not been taken. for the tiering system to work it has to be consistently applied and based on scientific evidence yet at the time when we need furnace and transparency all we have —— fairness and transparency we have is confusion. this is detrimental in particular for businesses who are under normal circumstances would often be heading into the busiest period of the year and they are now faced with now a clear plan or adequate support from the government. i've been contacted by hundreds of slough constituents are concerned about the impact tier 3 restrictions will have on their livelihoods, without increased

support. businesses in the dark, eligibility issues around the self—isolation support payment, inadequate support that does not reflect business need or length of time under each tier. the government has had months to repair and fix the many issues that labour have been consistently highlighting, in october, prior to the one month long lockdown i called on the prime minister to fix our test, track and trace minister to fix our test, track and tra ce syste m minister to fix our test, track and trace system and had responsibility to local public health teams who know their areas. yet the government is just not listening and continues to fail us. the budget now is at a staggering £22 billion, more than the annual budget for the police and fire services combined. in the last few seconds that i have got i want to say we need much more funding and resources for our local public health teams and with each day of government incompetence lives and

livelihoods are put at risk. despite the doubts about these new proposals i sincerely hope that they, along with the news of a vaccine on the horizon, with that things vastly improved or i fear we'll be heading to further lockdown is the future. i rise with some sadness to oppose this motion, as are recognise the hugely difficult decisions ministers have to make. and the many successes my right honourable friend the health secretary and his team have brought about in recent months. as the first member from kent to be called in this debate i would be fairly my constituents if i did not register strong protest about the way the tiers have been applied in a fashion too many feels arbitrary. i don't shoot the views of those who feel any restrictions are necessary, even “— feel any restrictions are necessary, even ——i feel any restrictions are necessary, even —— i do not share the views. bless those who think it is a vast

conspiracy. i want to see a balanced and effective approach —— and less those who think it is a vast conspiracy. it is reckless and inhumane to argue that the deaths of all the people is something we should just put up with. to be as effective as possible the new tiered system needs wide public consent. in the end we are all responsible for our own actions sol all responsible for our own actions so i want to see a system that encourages the most people to obey the rules for the largest amount of time. i put to the prime minister last week the thoughts of a constituent who said that if the government imposes stupid rules people will stop obeying the sensible rules as well. this was sadly dismissed. since then, the national debate has moved on to how big a scotch egg has to be to

constitute a substantial meal. i rest my case. i am afraid what we have before us today fails the test of maximising voluntary public support. to be specific it certainly doesin support. to be specific it certainly does in my constituency where i have had the most angry e—mails over the weekend since the dominic cummings trip to barnard castle. the problem for us is the sheer size of kent and the huge disparity of rates of infection between different parts of the county. there are rural areas in the county. there are rural areas in the south—west which are very low rates which are many miles from the areas in the north—east of the cou nty areas in the north—east of the county where rights are indeed alarmingly high and which absolutely need to be in tier 3. i am grateful to the prime minister for his indications earlier on this but they are not quite a commitment. i do not believe simply, we suggested an alternative route then instead of putting an entire region into particular for we putting an entire region into particularfor we —— putting an entire region into particular for we —— we should putting an entire region into particularfor we —— we should do it

ona particularfor we —— we should do it on a borough or district basis. i hope this idea is indeed being seriously considered in government now. one advantage of this approach would be it would be more flexible for ministers to decide to move areas between tears, this would give people some hope given only i% of the population is in tieri cot that they might have more of their normal life restored quickly. two more points. for my constituency point of view what was the point of the second lockdown? the national figures are pointing in the right direction but we entered in tieri and leave in tier 3. that is a puzzle for a successful policy. if thatis puzzle for a successful policy. if that is puzzling even more so is why it seems to have worked in every pa rt it seems to have worked in every part of the country except north—east kent. genuinely why is that? secondly, iwould north—east kent. genuinely why is that? secondly, i would urge ministers to spend time and effort between now and christmas urging people to be ultra cautious in the five the exemption period. we seem to a cce pt five the exemption period. we seem to accept as inevitable there will

be another spike in january to accept as inevitable there will be another spike injanuary because of christmas. i am very much hoping that will not happen because if we do we will have exchanged a weekend of fun for do we will have exchanged a weekend offunfora do we will have exchanged a weekend of fun for a long winter of regret. we can now see the glimpses of normal life resuming with the vaccine and regular testing, to reach that promised land as quickly as possible for public needs to give theirfull as possible for public needs to give their full consent to the new measures and i very much hope the government will come forward with something that reaches that public consent but i'm afraid these proposals do not achieve that so i'll be voting against them. lancashire is a long way from kent but as i followed the honourable gentleman there are many parallels and experiences i have to the experiences that he describes. tomorrow might lancaster and fleetwood constituency, along with the whole of lancashire goes into tier 3 restrictions. i want to

stress i support necessary measures to protect public health but those measures must have support from local communities, buying from local leaders and support package for our local economy that means that the regulations are respected by local communities. it struck me that the honourable gentleman from kent described his constituency and when the rules are stupid by should be followed them. i felt like the rules are stupid by should be followed them. ifelt like i the rules are stupid by should be followed them. i felt like i spent my weekend hearing from constituents saying it's unfair lancaster fleetwood has been placed into tier 3 restrictions when infection rates are far lower than the vast majority of the london boroughs which are in tier 2, lower infection rates than neighbouring district councils that are in tier2. neighbouring district councils that are in tier 2. when my constituency unfairness, the kickback tends to be, why should ifollow unfairness, the kickback tends to be, why should i follow them?

unfairness, the kickback tends to be, why should ifollow them? i have been clear that my constituents should follow the regulations in tier 3, should follow the regulations in tier3, i should follow the regulations in tier 3, i don't think it is fair that they've been put into those restrictions but it is important we follow the directions in order to ensure infection rates come down. i wa nt to ensure infection rates come down. i want to set out a state of health picture because i'm very grateful to university hospitals for setting out such clear and open picture of how might local hospitals are doing. i wa nted might local hospitals are doing. i wanted to stress that these are running totals are not validated data. as of last night we had 317 deaths since the start of the pandemic in the area, we currently have three wards closed at the local hospital and bed occupancy at the royal lancaster infirmary was 98% as of last night. understand seriousness of this health crisis and pandemic. all of this is having and pandemic. all of this is having an impact on regular and scheduled operations as well. the government

must set out how they believe these restrictions are going to be effective and fair because right now the second wave is having a disproportionate impact on the north. particularly when it comes to local businesses who have made very clear representations to me as a local member of parliament that the £20 each person or business support grant which is a one—off payment to the local authorities have to stretch for a length of time that we are in these tier 3 restrictions which means for communities like mine that money has to stretch for the same length of time as, say, cornwall which was placed in tier1 restrictions, which had to make it last for only 28 days. my constituents are quite frankly really annoyed to read reports in newspapers that the economy of london was taken into consideration when the decision was made to replace london into tier 2 however when it comes to the economy in the north of england that was not taken into consideration. that stinks of

one rule for the south and london and another for the north and that is not the message the government ought to be bringing if they want to bring local communities and local leaders along with them in order for these restrictions to be enforced. i wa nt to these restrictions to be enforced. i want to stress finally in lancashire we want to stress finally in lancashire we had a cross—party consensus from the conservative county council to labour district councils to mp5 like myself, that would have made sense, look district by district rather than countywide when it is such a diverse county that looks into so many directions. firstly i like to pay tribute to the continued embedding performance of nhs staff and the government and —— amazing performance of the nhs staff. i don't underplay the complex decisions being made by people in government and the terrible toll on families affected. it seems to me

with every difficulty a milestone reached it strikes me that the government are acting on largely u nco ntested government are acting on largely uncontested information. it feels like there has been a serious lack of diversity of opinion, analysis and evidence in many of these restrictions. the covid recovery group do not want to let it rip, they just ask for group do not want to let it rip, theyjust ask for a group do not want to let it rip, they just ask for a proper economic impact assessments. for example let's look at the hospitality industry. we are talking about using an enormous amount of taxpayer money to pay them to not open or pay people not to go to work. these payments will go nowhere near the losses of these businesses and many of them despite that will still go to the wall. why are we looking at not keeping them open given the very limited evidence for closing them? prior to this latest lockdown i joked with the proprietor of an ill house in gravesend that going to his place was like being put under his

control, stand there, scan here, wash your hands, sit down there, etc. you get the picture. the point is the hospitality industry has spent an absolute fortune and thought long and hard about how to run their establishment safely. we should be reopening well run pubs and should be reopening well run pubs a nd restau ra nts should be reopening well run pubs and restaurants and we should absolutely come authority should be merciless enclosing the pub is at risk nhs capacity. i would much rather my constituents socialise in well—run venues then squeeze onto the sofa back at home with their friends. i would the sofa back at home with their friends. iwould have the sofa back at home with their friends. i would have thought mixing in venues was much better than mixing at home in tier 2 and tier 3. i would have thought encouraging personal responsibility was rather better than nuances about how much you have got to eat with your beer. we must make sure restrictions make

sense or we we must make sure restrictions make sense or we will drive down compliance. we have got to have a bit more diversity in the advice. perhaps there should be a few more people with private sector experience, perhaps even more diverse scientific voices. i do not understand why we are using infection rates and not i see you occupancy to guide policy and why can't we move people around the country —— icu occupancy. i don't understand why we prevent millions of people from working when we've not even made a dent on the surge capacity of the nightingale hospitals. intervene, if you like. and they think it hospitals, there is not enough staff to staff them, you'd have to take them out of the hospital is that they're trying to give relief to which is why they're not being used. that is what i would like to see

money spent, i would like to see money spent, i would like to see money spent, i would like to see money spent on surge capacity in the nhs rather than paying people not to work. like it or not, my constituents will be thrown into more weeks of extraordinary lockdown and there is no possibility of this not now happening, given the opposition's decision to abstain. i am going to support the government's decision, and message to comply. a remarkable prime minister in particular. i will be hard pushed to support the government in future if there is a realistic possibility of there is a realistic possibility of the government being forced to seek a different path, churchill himself had a wide mix of generals and advisers. thank you. covid are still taking a heavy toll on the lives of our constituents.

with this job crisis in health crisis we all want to get back to life as normal as soon as possible. the news of the three vaccines could not be more welcome. the priority now has to be keeping people safe by ensuring no one is left behind and businesses are supported. the science is clear. restrictions are needed to save lives and protect the nhs from being overwhelmed. that is why the liberal democrats have backed all the previous knock—downs and the previous steering system. as at the same time supporting those past restrictions —— supported the previous lockdowns. we have called on ministers to do three things. firstly, provide clarity. we need transparency and honesty in government communications. people understand what the rules actually are. why they must follow them and are. why they must follow them and

are not just left are. why they must follow them and are notjust left confused and unconvinced. members opposite of spoke about scotch eggs and pork scratching is, iasked spoke about scotch eggs and pork scratching is, i asked the prime minister about whether he could reassure people they can get tested for travelling to see their loved ones at christmas and he could not a nswer ones at christmas and he could not answer that question clearly. it is not surprising that the general public are unclear what the government is trying to tell them. the second issue we have raised is we the second issue we have raised is we need proper financial support for all individuals and all businesses impacted by these restrictions, especially the self—employed, hospitality sector, tourism sector, charities. otherwise people are excluded. the third point we have made time and time again as the most critical. we need a comprehensive system of test trace and isolate so that every case of covid is identified fast and the correct measures to prevent infection is taken fast. sadly the government has failed to deliver on each of those

things. let me focus on isolation. i do not think this has had the intention it deserves. back in september the prime minister promised anyone on a low income who had two self—isolate would get a £500 payment. so that they could afford to self—isolate. what is the reality? the money simply is not got through. isolation rates have become dangerously low. the head of the resolution foundation told they work & pensions committee recently there is almost no take—up of this payment. why? because you cannot get it if you are told to self—isolate bya it if you are told to self—isolate by a local contact tracer instead of a national one because you cannot get it if you have to stay at home because your child has been told to self—isolate, 7000 people who have applied for their £500 in yorkshire and humber have been turned down, at 60% of all applicants. in oldham it

is 50%, liverpool, 80%. is anyone surprised that the opposition has no confidence in this government's ability to handle this pandemic? i am afraid, reluctantly, we cannot support the government today, they have failed to set out the clear criteria for which areas are in each tier can't fail to engage with local authorities and they have failed to provide the clear evidence to this house. the prime minister's proposals are arbitrary, confusing and chaotic. we will not support them. studio: ed davey, leader of the liberal democrats, telling the premise that he does not have let liberal democrats support as he was trying to reassure mps about england. despite the labour and what keir starmer had to say, borisjohnson

likely to get this through? purely on the maths of parliament. because labour is abstaining, there will not be labour votes, the snp is also abstaining on the principle these systems only applies to england and you just heard ed davey saying the liberal democrats will not support it either which means for this to file effective that you have to have pretty much the conservative party, half the conservative party voting against it —— for this to fail. that realistically will not happen. basically if —— significant number have voiced concerns, 70 wrote to the prime minister but even if every single one of those voted against the system later they would still be enough conservative mps voting for it to vote it through so it will happen and it will come into force at midnight tonight. what time or that would be? we expect about seven o'clock. quite a few more hours of this debate. you saw the promise to open it, there

are quitea saw the promise to open it, there are quite a number of mps waiting to speak, more than 100 are put forward to speak. they will talk about this for a few more hours but we expect matt hancock and close the debate just before seven and then devote happening around them. helen, thank you. german police say at least two people have died and several others are injured after they were hit by a car in a pedestrian area in the german city of trier. one local newspaper reports that an eyewitness saw a dark grey range rover driving at high speed, before seeing people being thrown through the air. police have arrested one person. it's understood that the mayor of trier is at the scene of the crash, and will issue an update later today. what is the latest you are hearing? a few more details from the police as the afternoon goes on. we know that police have arrested a man in his 50s. he was apparently driving a

range rover or a similar suv. he drove at speed, say eyewitnesses, through a pedestrianised area in the centre of trier, quite a large city in north—west germany. and the mayor of the city is describing this as an attack. police have not said that they know what the motivation behind this incident was, it is still not really clear whether it was possibly an accident or intentional. but what we an accident or intentional. but what we do know is that two people have died in this. 15 people are thought to be injured, again, that is according to the city's mayor. that is what he has told people in a it is what he has told people in a it isa is what he has told people in a it is a pretty serious incident. it is not clear if it is intentional, it is only really going from eyewitness reports so far. they say it seems to have been intentional. again, those people who are traumatised by what they seen because people in that area are they seen because people in that area a re really they seen because people in that area are really upset. the police

have told people to avoid those streets where this incident has happened and warned people to pick up happened and warned people to pick up their children from school and not let them walk home. they are obviously treating this as an ongoing incident and certainly very serious. i think over the afternoon as police release more details, we will get the crucial information about what was really behind this incident and whether it was an accident or in fact intentional. thank you very much. across the country, debenhams has 124 stores and employs around 12,000 workers who are all likely to lose theirjobs. the retailer will continue to trade to declare its current and contracted stocks but will then close it now offers are made for the business. last night, retail chain arcadia collapsed into administration threatening 13,000 jobs there and also triggering a

downfall of debenhams. that is the way young people are wanting it to be. it has been coming for a long time. it has been a long time coming really in terms of the failure. i think it has been a long, slow decline to debenhams. it has not been kept up with through the online development. and its competitors. it really puts into perspective how much it is affecting everybody and things are closing and people are suffering. all of this

comesjust people are suffering. all of this comes just hours after arcadia, the owner comes just hours after arcadia, the owner of topshop and dorothy perkins, fell into administration setting off a chain reaction on the high street. arcadia's brands are the largest concession holder in debenhams. debenhams was struggling long before the pandemic it. it fell into administration back into april for the second time. and jd sports was widely seen as the last chance to save the chain. but it pulled out ofa to save the chain. but it pulled out of a rescue deal today. debenhams started as a single shop in london in 1778. it survived recessions and battled the rise of the internet. but tough trading conditions during the pandemic have proved to be the final blow to this ailing chain. debenhams has been a story of a retailer that lost its way a a few yea rs retailer that lost its way a a few years ago, it got really addicted to price discounting, giving things away and things like cross sales, and it never really recovered. and

caught up with the changes in retail chains. it has never had a very strong online business, and it has had lots of shops in very expensive locations that have been expensive to serve. and it really has kind of lost its core shoppers. the department stores and online site will continue to trade until current stock is clear. the chain's demise will leave a big hole on already struggling high streets across britain, and 12,000 jobs are now at risk. devastating for all of those employees, no easy time, coming up to christmas, the uncertainty 19 to 2021. i really do feel for the individual employees and their families. the former chairman of debenhams told the bbc that the chain had too many high street outlets with high leases. the change in your website online in a matter of weeks, you can't reconfigure 190 stores across the country. the real

problem now is you have to be so much faster and have to have so much more online if you are going to survive the changing pressures. lockdown may end tomorrow, but shops are preparing to reopen england, but this is proving to be the nightmare before christmas fair at 25,000 retail workers at debenhams and arcadia. sarah corker, bbc news in leeds. julie palmer is a partner at the... this has been a horrible week for retail. it has so far, the unusual thing about this christmases we see this chain of events after the christmas trading season, january a bleak month for retailers. the fact we are bleak month for retailers. the fact we are seeing this so early in december and we are seeing significant distress right across the sector really does ring a loud warning bell for what might happen after christmas as well. was the demise of debenhams inevitable once we demise of debenhams inevitable once we heard about arcadia?

demise of debenhams inevitable once we heard about arcadia ?|j demise of debenhams inevitable once we heard about arcadia? i think that was almost the final nail in the coffin. the problem debenhams had had is that they were well known to have had problems over a long period of time. they had been open for sale, there only appear to be one horse in town in ajd sale, there only appear to be one horse in town in a jd sports looking to buy them. and the fact that arcadia actually had a number of concessions in debenhams stores really sounded the death knell for them yesterday when arcadia went over. them yesterday when arcadia went over. and then a jd sports walked away. a lot of fingers being pointed at the pandemic, the awful year that everybody is having. but we were talking about two businesses that have been sick for a while. you can almost compare it to failing flybe airlines at the start of the pandemic, that was used as a reason but that was known to be an ailing business. exactly the same for these two retailers. i think what the pandemic has done is it has accelerated things. then sharon whyte said that five years of retail change had been compressed into five months. this pandemic hasjust

accelerated these changes in terms of our shopping habits and i general customs. looking at what has happened at arcadia, a lot of focus obviously on sir philip green and his wife, who owns the business. what about the pension scheme there? it isa what about the pension scheme there? it is a matter of some concern again, isn't it? sir keir starmer was on to this very quickly yesterday. we of course saw all of those well—documented problems with the pension scheme at bhs. these sound eerily reminiscent, although some contributions have been made already. i think that looks woefully inadequate in what is now being talked about the deficit. so i would imagine it is now going to be centrepiece again in terms of the investigations talking about the failure of arcadia and the pressure that might be brought in bringing that might be brought in bringing that scheme up to date in terms of contributions. much of the collapses down philip green? it is very difficult to lay things at the doorstep of one person. there are questions to be asked about the role

of management. i think sir philip green in some senses as a bit of an old—fashioned retailer green in some senses as a bit of an old —fashioned retailer and was green in some senses as a bit of an old—fashioned retailer and was very wedded to that store portfolio, opening stores and spaces as quickly as he could. the landscape has changed now, we have migrated massively online, and it is not quite clear that he had the skill set to move with the times. it is good to hear your view. julie palmer, thank you so much for your views. more now on the debate taking place in the house of commons this afternoon on government plans to introduce a stricter tiered system of restrictions across england when the national lockdown ends tomorrow. kevin maguire is the daily mirror's associate editor — hejoins me now. it looks as though secular has dodged a decision, he is abstaining. that means boris johnson dodged a decision, he is abstaining. that means borisjohnson will win the vote despite dozens, scores perhaps as many as 100 tory mps rebelling against him. but keir starmer has taken the position after supporting voting for all of the previous measures of actually

abstaining here. he says he does that because he accepts in the needs to bea that because he accepts in the needs to be a tiered system in england but doesn't believe the government has got sufficient economic backing of the companies that are going to be hit. it is a tricky call for him, because, yes, he will expose the size of the conservative rebellion. he will have suffered some have his own mps running against him. they don't support the lockdown, but he could also look weakened as a man who can't decide what he is going to do on who can't decide what he is going to doona who can't decide what he is going to do on a big issue. and someone who seems to be ignoring the science? has made much of that, that is why he has supported the england—wide, month— long lockdown which will end at midnight tonight. he said he was following the science from sage while borisjohnson wasn't. then borisjohnson while borisjohnson wasn't. then boris johnson converted while borisjohnson wasn't. then borisjohnson converted after keir starmer. but the problem is now we are not quite sure what the science is along the way, because the government has made different calls

and political calls all the way along. borisjohnson and political calls all the way along. boris johnson has and political calls all the way along. borisjohnson has been retreating for the past few days in order to appease his backbenchers. but there is no doubt that keir starmer now will find it harder to justify in the future and say, "look, i'm just following the science." what is the science? if the sciences following the government's position, you not backing that because he has concerns about the economic side. we have this right throughout the crisis, this right throughout the crisis, this tension between lives and livelihoods. they are linked in some ways, but it is also where do you put the priority? what it has done is focused on the authority of boris johnson and keir starmer. i'm just wondering where it is for both of them at the moment. they are bruised and battered, i would have thought. also abstaining are the liberal democrats and the snp. the snp because it is going to be an english—only measure and they are just interested in scotland. but keir starmer is having difficulty a lot of issues getting all of his mps

on side. we saw revolts and resignations, on how breaking the law, british soldiers serving abroad, not giving them carte blanche to infringe human rights. he will have to make a call if there is a brexit deal. while borisjohnson himself is a his mps and agreeing with some of them who was criticising him and saying, "look, you have to back me and stick with me." it is very difficult for both leaders at the moment. kevin jones is voting against. yes. he is a north durham mp, former labour minister. he is voting against because he feels that london has been put in to toe for political reasons why the north—east is not yet in the same financial report in tier 3 and will be sacrificed. there isa tier 3 and will be sacrificed. there is a bit ofa tier 3 and will be sacrificed. there is a bit of a north—south divide that we are hearing from other mp5, both conservative and labour. but so far, following the debate, the

strongest criticism that boris johnson is from his own side who have southern seats, like in kent, they say that infection rates are very low and they are asking why they are in tier 2 or three. the problem of course is the prime minister once huge blocks of the country in the same tiers to reduce borders, people don't go to nearby villages, towns and cities to drink and eat in restaurants. but when you do those blocks, you will have areas which have much lower infection rates in tier 3 and some areas in tier 2 which will have higher rates. it is always going to happen with these borders. to try to minimise it, reduce the number of orders and go in big county blocks rather than individual districts or communities, but it is getting him into a lot of trouble from mps who say, "in my backyard, there is very low rates of virus, why are we having these over

the top restrictions?" are you in a photo booth? it looks like you are. i thought a bit of imperial dark red for you, simon, from your days covering the royals! i have thrown with bits and peacocks, i can rustle them up. i can imagine. you are watching bbc news. the high court has ruled on the treatment of transgender children, saying those under the age of 16 are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to undergo treatment to block puberty. a woman who was given puberty blockers when she was 16 and is now detransitioning says she believes the landmark ruling will give more protection to teenagers with gender dysphoria. i'm delighted at the judgment of the courts today. it is a judgment that will protect vulnerable people. i wish it had been made for me before i embarked on a devastating experiment of puberty blockers. my life would be very different today.

this time last year, ijoined this case with no hesitation, knowing what i knew about what had and has been going on with gender identity politics. my hope was that outside the noise of the culture wars, the court would shine a light on this harmful experiment on vulnerable children and young people. these drugs seriously harmed me in more ways than one, they have harmed many more, particularly young girls and women. more, particularly young girls and women. thisjudgment more, particularly young girls and women. this judgment is more, particularly young girls and women. thisjudgment is not political, it is about the protection of vulnerable children, please read it carefully. it exposes a complacent and dangerous culture at the heart of the national centre responsible for treating children and young people with gender dysphoria. our correspondent sangita myska has been following the case and spoke to us earlier for more. at the very heart of this case was theissue at the very heart of this case was the issue as to whether or not young people under the age of 18 are able to give a fully informed consent to taking puberty blockers. puberty blockers are the drugs that are the first medical step in transitioning

genderfrom one to first medical step in transitioning gender from one to another. what this reallyjudges gender from one to another. what this really judges —— gender from one to another. what this reallyjudges —— what the three judges at the court decided today was a highly compact and nuanced judgment. what it decided to do was to try to split teenagers up according to their age. what the judgment says is that if you are 13 or under, you are highly unlikely to be able to give your fully informed consent to taking these drugs. it says if you are below the age of 15, between 14 and 15, it is doubtful that you can give that consent. and if you are between the ages of 16 and 18, the law in england currently presumes that you are able to give consent, but thejudges here presumes that you are able to give consent, but the judges here today have said that because of the highly experimental nature of these drugs, because scientists don't know the long—term effects of them on the body and on the mind, clinicians who are prescribing these drugs at the tavistock clinic, the only nhs gender in the uk, may wish to come back to a court like this one and

seek his permission. today, trans rights activists are saying that this is a huge blow to those rights. it says there are plenty of children around the country who are already struggling to get help, and this will just delay that further making their ordeal that much greater. the tavistock clinic says it will be appealing this decision. a leading breast—feeding charity in the uk says it's in "‘a desperate situation' trying to support mothers who have given birth in lockdown. between april and september, the national breast—feeding helpline answered 125% more calls than they did in the same period last year. the restrictions in place meant that face—to—face professional and peer support was cancelled, and simple procedures like tongue—tie operations were severely restricted. we can talk now to dr vicky thomas, co—chair of the hospital infant feeding network and paediatrician. thank you for under 30% of mothers felt lockdown had a negative impact, is that a figure that surprises you?

simon, i think i wish i was surprised, but i'm not. in all honesty, i have to tell you that i think breast—feeding is a systematically undervalued in our society. and we are really good at telling families that breast—feeding isa telling families that breast—feeding is a great idea, but we are substantially is a great idea, but we are su bsta ntially less is a great idea, but we are substantially less good at supporting them when they want to do it. and really, a lot of the front line services that would usually be supporting families in these situations are very much supported themselves by volunteer organisations. and we had this sort of double whammy during the lockdown of double whammy during the lockdown of many services being redeployed in a lot of places health visitors, who are an essential part of early family life care were not taking their usual visits. and then there we re their usual visits. and then there were reductions in the ability for the charities, the third sector organisations, who usually help cover those gaps. and so sadly, i am

not at all surprised that, in this lockdown, families have been disadvantaged in their attempt to continue breast—feeding. disadvantaged in their attempt to continue breast-feeding. you have also heard some examples of mums and their babies being separated, is that right? our organisation received from reports of mothers and babies, when one or the other had to be hospitalised. in fact, when recirculated an open letter to mr hancock and asked for his attention, we hancock and asked for his attention, we have now had 1800 signatures to that letter. and many of the people who sign our letter contacted us and told us their own stories. so there we re told us their own stories. so there were some told us their own stories. so there were some really shocking stories. one of the things that we heard about was women who are going to breast clinics with suspected breast cancer who are breast—feeding their children. they were actually being turned away at the door of the breast clinic because they had attended with their baby. who of course was dependent on them for nutrition and for childcare. we have

stories of women who had mastitis. i suspect you may not have experienced mastitis, but it is a pretty unpleasant situation where there is infection of the breast tissue, and one of the major things that helps is giving the breast milk moving. so you need your baby or your child around to help them to the breast of milk. and not only where women are being told they weren't allowed to bring their babies or their children into the hospital ward, they were also being told that they could not leave the hospital ward to go and breast—feed and take that essential step to making themselves more well. one woman told us that she had to beg to be allowed to go and sit in a hospital car park to breast—feed her child. some women told us... go on. one hopes these are one offs. are you sensing that is a wide issue? and is that a solution? we had 250 responses telling us of personal stories or of professionals who have been involved in cases and dozens of

very detailed accounts. i wish i could say it was a one—off. we are being told also interestingly of really good practice. so families have told us about hospitals that have told us about hospitals that have done a brilliantjob of keeping mums and babies together. so we know that there are solutions, and i think the important thing to say here is that it might need a bit of creativity, it might need a bit of thought, it might need a bit of resource, but because of those positive stories that we heard, we know that families can be kept together and their health can be kept safer. yeah, absolutely. together and their health can be kept safer. yeah, absolutelym together and their health can be kept safer. yeah, absolutely. it is really good to talk to you, doctor thomas. thank you for your time this afternoon. there's a month to go until the end of the brexit transition period — that's the amount of time given for the uk and eu to agree their future relationship. with me now is sallyjones. she is the trade strategy & brexit lead at british services network ey. what is becoming quite clear is whatever happens with these trade talks, we are in for some massive

changes. that is absolutely right. the change that is coming is mostly the agnostic. motor changes will come despite whatever changes with the negotiations. what other concerns you have? i think the main concerns you have? i think the main concern we concerns you have? i think the main concern we have is that businesses, despite their very best efforts, have not yet been given the tools they need to get ready. the closest analogy i can come up with is like trying to revise for an exam went nobody has told you what is on the syllabus. you can make some educated guesses at what some of the things that come up might be, but if you have reside to macbeth and it turns out the questions are on hamlet, you are in real trouble. out the questions are on hamlet, you are in realtrouble. many people will remember, as i do, the dire predictions in the year 2000 that there would be computer meltdown is. is there a danger here that businesses will just say, is there a danger here that businesses willjust say, "look, money will find a way." or other being optimistic? i worry that they

are. y2k was a very, very specific problem with a clearly defined solution that was solved by dedicated it professionals working sometimes through the night to get it done. this is very different, it is not an event, it is a process. and you have ongoing change for weeks, if not months afterwards, as companies adjust to what the new normal might look like. businesses out there can rightfully turn around and say, "we would love to prepare, but we don't know how." yes, i think thatis but we don't know how." yes, i think that is an entirely fair point. it would be entirely more helpful if they were able to do things like access the basic systems that they will need to be able to use so that they can practice to see what it is that they need to be able to do and work out what information they need to pull out from their own systems to pull out from their own systems to make the right declarations and clea ra nces. u nfortu nately, to make the right declarations and clearances. unfortunately, at to make the right declarations and clea ra nces. u nfortu nately, at least on the uk side, that is not an option, because most systems have not been made available to traders

yet. this happens at the end of this month, do you think most people now understand, in business, what is about to happen? i think some do. we did a survey of 1700 businesses only in the middle of last month, november, and around 20% of the clients that we survey told us that they had both a good understanding of the issues and felt they had good enough mitigations in place. 20%, that means four in every five businesses either don't fully understand what their issues are yet all they do understand but they haven't been able to mitigate him properly yet. so it is a real concern. what is the worst case scenario? the government's own worst case scenario, if we are looking at border delays, which are the ones that will come first, is a big increase in the time it takes the goods to move across the border. to give you an example, and again this is from the government's own reasonable worst case scenario analysis, at the moment, it currently takes a drop about three

hours to transit eurotunnel. rocking up hours to transit eurotunnel. rocking up at one transfer terminal, loading up, going across under the sea, unloading at the other end, about three hours. that is going to be more like 48—50 hours for a period of time after the 1st of january. 40-50 of time after the 1st of january. 40—50 hours is an incredibly difficult amount of time, you have lorry drivers who go about the working time directive, you have goods that will be perishable and go off, you have cold chain which simply isn't cold at the end of that period of time. that is the kind of issue that companies are going to have to battle. most drivers are not paid by the hour, they are paid by the mile, so they willjust not bother. or they are going to be very keen to drive their trucks but not be able to because they have hit the hourly limit for that day's driving of being in the cab, yes. it is really good to talk to you, sally jones. thank you very much. let's just take you back to the house of commons, the debate continues on at

the tier of coronavirus restrictions. results sometime around 7pm. it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that oli johnson will get his way having urged mps to back his structured tier system for england despite the threat of rebellion from his backbenchers. the numbers to stick up for him now. a lot of anger being expressed on the benches from people whose constituents say that it is unfair that their particular areas have been targeted. we will keep an eye on that and bring you some of the highlights a little later on. now though he on bbc news time for a look at the weather. it is a new month and a new weather story to tell. we have lost that drug november grey and this morning, we had some sunshine, particularly across eastern areas. a few scattered showers running in off the north sea and clouding over now into the far north—west with the arrival ofa the far north—west with the arrival of a weather front later today. some of a weather front later today. some of that cloud thick enough foot spots of drizzle, but temperatures should be between six and 10 degrees. as we go through the night

tonight, that weather front continues to push its way south and east. it will a blanket of cloud for many and some outbreaks of rain into scotland. the far south—east may well just cling on scotland. the far south—east may welljust cling on to those clear skies, and here, which is good for close to freezing. a touch of light frost possible. it will cloud over quite quickly during wednesday morning. a weatherfront quite quickly during wednesday morning. a weather front bringing outbreaks of rain into northern england and wales. blustery, squally showers developed in the far north—west of scotland, and some of these will turn increasingly wintry is much colder air kicks in behind that cold front. notable difference with the feel of the weather tomorrow.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: 12,000 jobs at risk at debehnams — as last—ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store fail. just hours earlier topshop owner arcadia collapsed into administration — putting 13,000 jobs at risk there. devastating for all those employees, and no easy time but coming up to christmas, the uncertainty now for 2021, i really do feel for all the individual employees and their families. mps are debating plans to introduce a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions across england tomorrow. we cannot afford to relax. especially during the cold months of winter. police in germany have arrested the driver of a vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians, killing at least two and injuring ar least ten more —

in the city of trier. a high court ruling on the treatment of transgender children, a woman given puberty blockers at age of 16 says she's "delighted" at greater protection for teenagers with gender dysphoria. the government is urging businesses to make their final preparations for brexit — a month before the transition period ends. in a massive blow to jobs — and to the high street — the department store debenhams is to close down. the move comes afteer sports pulled out of a rescue deal to save the retailer — which will now cease traing. across the country debenhams has 124 stores and employs around 12,000 workers who are likely to lose theirjobs. the retailer will continue to trade

to clear its current and contracted stocks but it will then close if no offers are made for the business. last night retail chain arcadia collapsed into adminstration — threatening 13,000 jobs there. our business correspondent sarah corker reports. debenhams is a massive part of high streets across the uk, a focal point of many town centres but thousands of staff arrived for work this morning to be told the chain's124 shops will soon cease trading. there was a mixed response in leeds city centre today. we will not have any shopping centres left, we will have no town centres left. when everybody shops online. but that is the way it's going, that's the way young people are wanting, wanting it to be, and it has been coming for a long time. it has been a long time coming, really, in terms of the failure. i think it has been a long and slow decline for debenhams, it hasn't

really changed with the times, not really kept up with the online development and its competitors. it really puts it into perspective how much covid is actually affecting everybody and, you know, things are closing and people are suffering, yeah. and all of this comes just hours after arcadia, the owners of topshop and dorothy perkins, fell into administration, setting off a chain reaction on the high street. arcadia's brands are the largest concession holder in debenhams. debenhams was struggling long before the pandemic hit. it fell into administration back in aprilfor the second time and jd sports was widely seen as the last chance to save the chain but it pulled out of a rescue deal today. debenhams started as a single shop in london in 1778. it survived recessions and battled the rise of the internet but tough trading conditions during the pandemic have proved to be the final blow to this ailing chain. debenhams has been the story of a retailer that lost its way a good few years ago.

it got really addicted to price discounting, giving things away things like blue cross sales, and it never really recovered and caught up with the changes in retail trends. it has never had a very strong online business and it has had lots of shops in very expensive locations that have been expensive to serve. and it really has kind of lost its core shopper. debenhams will keep on trading through its stores and online until it clears its current stock. the chain's demise will leave a huge hole on high streets across britain. devastating for those employees. there is no easy time but coming up to christmas, i really feel for individual employees and their families. the former chairman of debenhams told the bbc the chain had too many high street outlets on long leases.

if you don't have the ability to change, you can change your website online ina change, you can change your website online in a matter of weeks, you cannot reconfigure stores across the country and the real problem now as you have got to move so much faster and so much more online if you're going to survive the changing competitive pressures. lockdown may end tomorrow and shops are preparing to reopen across england but this is proving to be the nightmare before christmas for 25,000 retail workers at debenhams and arcadia. our business editor simon jack explained that arcadia's trading issues did not have a significant effect on the survival of debenhams. arcadia's collapse did not cause debenhams' collapse. the truth is thatjd sports' offer was hated by its own shareholders, they never came to an agreement and had people scratching their heads whatjd sports wanted with debenhams in the first place. so arcadia's demise, and some of that revenue that they used to get from arcadia

franchises was more a pretext or an excuse to get out of a deal they had already got cold feet on. and a week of horrors on the high street, and we are only tuesday. yeah, i mean, 25,000jobs in the last 24 hours. you have to go back to woolworths about 12 years ago to have a bigger retail bust than this. it is tempting to think the entire retail sector is doomed, it is not. even some high street retailers are doing ok. next is doing pretty well, even marks & spencer's has got its mojo back a little bit. but these are weak businesses. debenhams, the second time it has been in administration. arcadia almost collapsed last year. basically, it has been brutal, the pandemic, for businesses that already had underlying financial health issues. the prime minister has defended plans to introduce a stricter tiered system of restrictions across england when the national lockdown ends tomorrow. mps are debating the rules ahead of a crunch vote later — in which a number of conservative mps are expected to rebel against the government's plans. this is the scene inside the chamber

of the house of commons. relatively quiet following early exchanges from the prime minister and leader of the opposition. let's bring you up to date with this report from chris mason. borisjohnson mason. boris johnson left mason. borisjohnson left downing street this lunchtime. will your mps back your tier system, prime minister? the answer is yes, but far from all of them. i accept this is not a return to normality i wish it was so. but it isa normality i wish it was so. but it is a bit closer to normality than current restrictions on what we cannot do is lift all of the restrictions at once or move too quickly in such a way that the virus will begin to spread rapidly again. labour will abstain lighter, not voting for or against. sir keir starmer says he knows restrictions are needed but he has reservations

such as... only one in eight workers qualified for the one £500 self—isolation support, one in eight qualify for that support. and they we re qualify for that support. and they were not receiving that has to rely on statutory sick pay which is the equivalent of £13 a day. that is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. the debate is expected to last all afternoon, more than 100 mps want to speak. all of them are aware of the severity of people in england are being asked to do and it leaves some conservative saying the restrictions go too far. if the government is to take away fundamental liberties of the people whom we represent, they must demonstrate beyond question that they are acting in a way that is both dashed —— both proportionate and absolutely necessary. today i believe the government has failed to make that compelling case. the government is going to offer around

£40 million of extra support for pubs in england most badly affected by the restrictions. labour's decision to abstain alongside the snp and the liberal democrats means the government is going to win later while what you can do depends on where in england you are, some places can reopen everywhere, like hairdressers. after all of the noise tiered restrictions are coming to england tomorrow. our political correspondent helen catt. abstentions from labour and the liberal democrats on the whole mean it will go the prime minister's way. it is, just a case of parliamentary maths. if you have got labour not voting, you've got the snp not voting, you've got the snp not voting because this is only applying in england and the lib dems not voting that leaves it to a straight fight within the tory party which would mean you would need to have more concern voting against the

government that voting for it and quite clear that that is not going to happen. —— than voting for it. these restrictions will come into effect at midnight. you might be thinking why this matters some conservative mps are not happy? this is not the last without the government will have to have on these restrictions. these ones will end at the end ofjanuary, february the 3rd, and there will be another without if the government wants to keep tiered restrictions longer. we've already seen several conservative mps this afternoon via a bit ofa conservative mps this afternoon via a bit of a shot across the bowels of the prime minster. —— shot across the prime minster. —— shot across the bows. we have heard from several mps over the course of this afternoon. labour choosing to abstain and not vote, effectively, means if the government cannot rely on labour to get further restrictions through either. it is

sort of setting it up for a little further down the line. boris johnson saying to keir starmer, what happened to listening to the science? absolutely. he was keen in his address to parliament to highlight all the previous attempts the government had made to bring in new systems. he spoke about the whack a mole strategy back in the summer and saying we've had all these, very keen to highlight that are also keen to see there is not the right financial support in place which is why labour are saying it's abstaining. that opens labour up to accusations of the government saying when you were called upon to back these restrictions, you say you back restrictions but you have not backed them. that is setting up the political argument for the coming months. the prime minister really keen to try and say this is not the continuation of a lockdown, even if you go into those tier 3 areas from midnight tonight, that will feel

different tomorrow because the shops will be open, hairdressers will be open, there will be things that were open, there will be things that were open that were not before. the prime minister keen to stress its not a continuation of lockdown. the other thing the debate today will do, though, is put pressure on those two week review point the government has committed to pull it will look every two weeks in which tiers areas are in and there will be pressure to see some of those at the start to move down for us and reasonably quickly. keir starmer saying he thought that was quite unlikely that will happen in the first to book review on the 16th of december but certainly ahead of any further without —— that first two week review. the government will have to shout this system can work and there is a way out of it for those in the hire for those in the higher tiers. —— for those in the higher tiers. —— for those in the higher tiers. —— for those in the higher tiers that there is a way out of it. german police say at least two

people have died and several others are injured after they were hit by a car in a pedestrian area in the german city of trier. one local newspaper reports that an eyewitness saw a dark grey range rover driving at high speed, before seeing people being thrown through the air. police have arrested one person. it's understood that the mayor of trier is at the scene of the crash, and will issue an update later today. damien mcguiness gave us the latest from berlin. getting some more details from the police. we know police have arrested a man in his 505, he was apparently driving a range rover or a similar suv. he drove at speeds say eyewitnesses into a pedestrianised area in the centre of trier, quite a large city in north—western germany. the mayor of the city is describing this as an attack. police have not said that they know what the motivation behind this incident was, it is still not really clear whether it is still not really clear whether it was possibly an accident or indeed intentional. what we now is two people have died in this. 15 people are thought to be injured but

thatis people are thought to be injured but that is according to the city's mayor. that is what he told journalists. it is still not clear if it was intentional. it is only really going from eyewitness report so far where they say it seems to have been intentional but those are people who are traumatised by what they've seen because people in that town or that area are really upset. the police have told people to avoid those street where the incident has happened, and warned people to pick up happened, and warned people to pick up their children from school and not let them walk home so they're obviously treating this as an ongoing incident and it is certainly very serious. over the afternoon as police released more details we will get the crucial information about what was really behind this incident and whether it was an accident or in fa ct and whether it was an accident or in fact intentional. the headlines on bbc news... 12,000 jobs at risk at debenhams — as last—ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store fail. just hours earlier topshop owner arcadia collapsed into administration —

putting 13,000 jobs at risk there. mps are debating plans to introduce a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions across england tomorrow. police in germany have arrested the driver of a vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians, killing at least two and injuring ar least ten more — in the city of trier. with a month to go until the end of the post—brexit transition period, there's still no clarity about exactly how the uk's borders will operate outside the eu's economic zone — the single market and the customs union. the government says "huge advances" have been made in its preparations, but businesses that trade across the border are extremely concerned. earlier i spoke to our reality check correspondent, chris morris about what will happen from january first. from january the 1st there will be a massive increase in red tape for businesses that trade across the border. all exports from great britain to the eu will be subject to full checks from the 1st of january,

customs declarations, cheques and product standards, food safety and so on. if you do not have the right documents you will be turned away from the border. because of fears that many businesses are not ready, the government is delaying full checks in the other direction, for things coming into this country most checks on the 1st ofjuly, some things such as high risk items will be checked from the 1st of january but even the 1st ofjuly deadline for many things might be extended. it is clear the focus is on kent but also northern ireland. kent first of all because of the dover— calais route and channel tunnel, they handle 4 million trucks each year. one concern as it is the same trucks going back and forth so if you have delays in one direction you could have delays in the other. 85% of the volume of this trade is carried by european hauliers and they are usually paid by the kilometre are not the hour to if they think they will be sitting in queues all day and they may welljust not come for

and they may welljust not come for a few weeks at least. trade might go down. the government is also setting up down. the government is also setting up lorry parks in kent to try and deal with congestion on motorways and there will be an access permit lorry drivers have to have just to get into kent to prove they have the right documents. that may help the congestion but it does not involve va ns congestion but it does not involve vans and thousands of small vans cross the channel every week as well, lots of them supplying small shops. they could add to the congestion. northern ireland as well? northern ireland is probably the biggest concern for many retailers and holy is because under the northern ireland protocol it will be treated differently and at the moment there is still no clarity on how trade from great britain to northern ireland within the uk is going to operate, they may have to deal with tariffs, they don't know yet. they will certainly have to deal with a new it system for customs which none of them have ever used before. and there are going to be checks on the huge amount of food

which is sent every day from great britain to northern ireland. and thatis britain to northern ireland. and that is something which will be very intrusive, it has to be physical inspection sometimes and could cause further delays. lots of business groups in northern ireland are saying we need what they call an adjustment period, another transition in all but name, something that will give them more time to get to grips with the huge changes that are underweight. as long as these talks between the eu and uk go on they don't know if that isa and uk go on they don't know if that is a realistic prospect —— these huge changes that are under way. let's hear now from rod mckenzie from the road haulage association who joins us now from weybridge. for weeks to go. it is very worrying. terrifying in many ways the government have had for years to plan for this and they have left it to the last four weeks. it is not good planning but you still don't know. your members presumably art messaging you saying i am due to go

to northern ireland or europe and just don't know what i need. to put it simply, the government told us what we have to do but not how we have to do it. and that is the most important thing. as chris morris reported, there is this mountain of red tape that we've not had to do for 50 yea rs red tape that we've not had to do for 50 years or so that we now have to get our heads around. the shocking lack of authority from government on this is really worrying and what is even more worrying and what is even more worrying is the government in their press release today appeared to be lining up traders for blame by saying you've got to get ready. otherwise it will be your fault if something goes wrong. by implication. in all likelihood, it probably will. is it you impression your members have done everything that they need to do? other members are saying we don't know what we have to do, we are not clear about

any mechanism for all this stuff. we know bits of it, but not all of it. we wa nt know bits of it, but not all of it. we wantan know bits of it, but not all of it. we want an end to any process that ta kes we want an end to any process that takes us from a to z and at the moment there are bits missing and bits that are not clear. that is not how business runs, business runs and logistics runs on a fantastically efficient basis. suddenly we are up against a government that is not able to tell us how that will work. it will end up at the best shambolic, at worst we are heading for a catastrophe here. picture that for a catastrophe here. picture that for me, what does a catastrophe look like on january the for me, what does a catastrophe look like onjanuary the 2nd? for me, what does a catastrophe look like on january the 2nd? it would probably delayed later and took the month because the busy time for haulage in january is month because the busy time for haulage injanuary is the back end of the month, not the beginning after the new year because most of the christmas stuff has been moved already. we are talking about disruption to the supply chain which would mean perhaps parts would not

arrive in factories for assembly, it could mean that you will not get the things that you want from online, it could mean there are shortages of some things in the shops. we will not run out of food but that may not be the same range of things in the supermarket that we are used to. do you share the govern's faith in the new it system? i absolutely do not. this is untried and as far as we can tell u ntested. this is untried and as far as we can tell untested. the government have not got a great record in it and when they start using phrases in their press release like cutting—edge software, state of the art technology, and expert officials we re art technology, and expert officials were monitoring all of this, we need to be very wary of that. the truth is most of us have not seen this it and we don't know if it talks to other bits of it that it needs to do and it is untried and untested. there is not a business in the land

that would leave it until the last four weeks to introduce a new it system. would you put on that basis, wa nt system. would you put on that basis, want a further period of transition? i think all traders i've spoken to would say we need a bit more time andi would say we need a bit more time and i think that would be helpful short term but the danger about kicking the can down the road as we will be in the same place in six months if the government is not clear about what needs to be done and cannot prove to us the technology works. we've got to have clarity of communication and a system that works and if it works in six months that is great but we don't want to be back here in six months' time with you asking me the same questions and may give it all the same answers. let's not bet against it at this stage. thank you very much. good to talk to you.

the high court has ruled on the treatment of children who are said to want to change to the opposite sex — saying those under the age of 16 are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to treatment that blocks puberty. a woman who was given puberty blockers when she was 16 and is now detransitioning, says she believes the landmark ruling will give more protection to teenagers with gender dysphoria. i'm delighted at the judgment of the court today. it is a judgment that will protect vulnerable people. i wish it had been made for me before i embarked on the devastating experiment of puberty blockers. my life would be very different today. this time last year, ijoined this case with no hesitation, knowing what i knew about what had and has been going on with gender identity clinics. my hope was that, outside the noise of the culture wars, the court would shine a light on this harmful experiment on vulnerable children and young people. these drugs seriously harmed me in more ways than one, and they have harmed many more, particularly young girls and women. this judgment is not political,

it is about the protection of vulnerable children, please read it carefully. it exposes a complacent and dangerous culture at the heart of the national centre responsible for treating children and young people with gender dysphoria. our correspondent sangita myska has been following the case and spoke to us earlier for more. at the very heart of this case was the issue as to whether or not young people under the age of 18 are able to give a fully informed consent to taking puberty blockers. puberty blockers are the drugs that are the first medical step in transitioning gender from one to another. what the three judges at the court delivered today was a highly complex and nuanced judgment. what they decided to do was to try to split teenagers up according to their age. what the judgment says is that if you are 13 or under, you are highly unlikely to be able to give your fully informed consent to taking these drugs.

it says if you are below the age of 15, between 14 and 15, it is doubtful that you can give that consent. and if you are between the ages of 16 and 18, the law in england currently presumes that you are able to give consent. but the judges here today have said that, because of the highly experimental nature of these drugs — because scientists don't know the long—term effects of them on the body and on the mind — clinicians who are prescribing these drugs at the tavistock clinic, which is the only nhs gender transitioning clinic in the uk, may wish to come back to a court like this one and seek permission. today, tra ns—rights activists are saying that this is a huge blow to those rights. it says there are plenty of children around the country who are already struggling to get help, and this willjust delay that further, making their ordeal that much greater. the tavistock clinic says it will be appealing this decision.

more now on the collapse of debenhams. i can talk to sir ian cheshire a veteran retailer and until recently chairman of debenhams. i can see, as you can see, hejoins me now. thank you for joining us. what is a very sad day for you, i would guess? it is a sad date not so much for me as all the teams across the country and thousands of people wondering about their future thousands of people wondering about theirfuture in thousands of people wondering about their future in the thousands of people wondering about theirfuture in the run—up thousands of people wondering about their future in the run—up to christmas. that is the real tragedy and we hope there will be a future for lots of people in different ways but it is definitely a sad day. what went wrong at debenhams? you have to go back quite a long way, and two things colliding got one of which is an ever—changing retail scene, that is normal, it has probably changed more in the last ten years than ever before. obviously the rise of the internet and a sports brands. then debenhams in particular got caught

with lots of excess space, lots of stores on a very long leases which meant even if it wanted to change and it was doing lots of good things and it was doing lots of good things and it was doing lots of good things and it was doing well on its website, it could not get out of the old space faster than it could build a new style. it basically ran into the straitjacket of its debts and its long leases on stores. much of this is made of this being part of the deterioration of the high street, the high street will not be like it was, yet there are some success stories. what differentiates those? i think there are two factors, one of which is flexibility, as i said, if you are caught with lots of fixed costs and long leases you cannot adapt then you are likely to be one of the casualties. on the flip side, if you area casualties. on the flip side, if you are a new business starting up in the last three or four years, property costs have come down, more property costs have come down, more property available, you can innovate today that perhaps you could not have done before. the high street will continue to change and become

more residential, more experiential service based businesses and as long as town centres in particular are run by people who want to see flexibility and innovation, it is quite a lot of opportunity, it is just some of the old models could not escape, the straitjacket of their old costs. much was made of not escape, the straitjacket of their old costs. much was made 0ij sports and they hoped they would rescue at the last minute, that fell through this morning, was that a serious offer and could there be someone else in the wings?|j serious offer and could there be someone else in the wings? i think it's hard to see now after a couple of years of restructuring who else would come forward with a big offer. what you will see is lots of interest both with arcadia and debenhams in the brands, there are some very good brands, my personal view is you could have debenhams with around 50 stores any website was a good business but it could not cope with 170 old stores. you will see some brands are repurposed and some of them have good and

interesting futures but not inside the old structures that wear their undoing. and structures that have brought down another huge name, arcadia. absolutely. one of the giants, not that long ago was the fourth largest clothing retailer in the uk, but i think it has been caught on the wrong side of particulate the internet development and also ironically with particulate the internet development and also ironically witth sports being the people, a lot of the clothing market has migrated to sportswear and so basically these businesses had volumes taken away and left with the costs and that ultimately is what squeeze them. what will be high street look like in ten or20 what will be high street look like in ten or 20 years? i think there will be shops, but they will be different. they will increasingly have to do things you cannot do on the internet, experiential, local, local has been a very strong theme of the pandemic. we have also seen convenience food

shopping and food and hospitality, one of the worst hit at the moment but potentially one of the leaders coming back. you also see more residential, the old high streets with big shopping centres, you probably will not see back again. when we talk about debenhams we are talking out part of our history. 240—year—old store originally. for a lot of people we all grew up with debenhams and in that sense it is a real shame. i have a funny feeling the website will be around for quite some time. so ian cheshire, very good to give us your time. thank you. it isa it is a new month and a new weather story to tell. we have lost that drab november grey, this morning, we had some sunshine, particularly across eastern areas. a few scattered showers running in off the north sea and clouding over now into the far north—west with the arrival ofa the far north—west with the arrival of a weather front later today. some of a weather front later today. some of that cloud thick enough to have

drizzle. but temperatures should peak between six and 10 degrees. as we peak between six and 10 degrees. as we go through the night tonight, that weather front continues to push its way south and east and will bring a blanket of cloud for many and some outbreaks of rain into scotland. but the far south—east may well just cling onto scotland. but the far south—east may welljust cling onto those clear skies and here, temperatures may four—poster freezing. a touch of light frost quite possible. the cloud clouding over quite quickly during wednesday, a weather front bringing rain into northern england and wales. blustery squally showers developed in the far north—west of scotla nd developed in the far north—west of scotland and some of these will turn increasingly wintry is much colder air kicks in behind that cold front. a notable difference with the feel of the weather tomorrow.

hello this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines... 12,000 jobs at risk at debenhams, as last—ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store fail. just hours earlier, topshop owner arcadia collapsed into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk there. mps are debating plans to introduce a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions across england tomorrow. police in germany have arrested the driver of a vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians, killing at least two and injuring ar least ten more in the city of trier. a high court ruling on the treatment of children who say they're transgender, a woman given puberty blockers at the age of 16 says she's "delighted" at greater protection

for teenagers with dysphoria. the government is urging businesses to make their final preparations for brexit, a month before the transition period ends. scientists say there's cause for optimisim after changing approaches from china and the us mean the paris climate accord is "within reach". sport now. and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's holly hamilton. did you miss me, simon? the seven—time formula one world champion lewis hamilton says he's "devastated" and "gutted" after testing positive for coronavirus. he'll miss this weekend's race in bahrain. he'd returned three negative tests last week but woke up yesterday with mild symptoms, and a new test revealed he'd contracted the virus. hamilton is now isolating for ten days but says he's fit and well. he's not missed a race

since his debut in 2007 and must return a negative test before returning to the paddock, meaning he's a doubt for the season—ending race in abu dhabi next weekend. mercedes say they'll name his replacement for sunday's race later. as part of a lengthy statement on social media, hamilton said... just two days after his horrific crash in bahrain, f1 driver romain grosjean has said he hopes to compete in the final race of the season in less than two weeks' time. the haas driver, who'll spend a third night in hospital with burn injuries to his hands, posted this picture on social media earlier.

in case you are one they are body squats. he said... "never thought a few body squats would make me happy. body recovering well from the impact. hopefully same about the burns on my hands." football and newcastle's training ground remains shut today as the club try to control an outbreak of coronavirus. three players and one member of staff had tested positive, with more new cases emerging following another test on sunday. it remains unclear if the club can return to training tomorrow. they play aston villa in the league on friday. the game is still set to go ahead. premier league rules say the match will only be postponed if a team has 14 players or less available. it's another big night in the champions league — jurgen klopp's liverpool will reach the knockouts if they avoid defeat against ajax at anfield. they won the reverse fixture 1—0 in amsterdam, but defender andy robertson knows his team will face a tough test later.

the history is phenomenal, and if their team just now is an excellent team. we know what is at stake, we know if we win we are through to the last 16, and that was always the aim. we want to go far in this competition and by doing so, we need to get through the group stages first and for most. and we have a chance to do that. and manchester city are already into the last 16 having won their first four group games. a draw tonight against porto in portugal will seal top spot in group c. a big night too ahead of the women's european championships in 2022. northern ireland, wales and scotland could still qualify for next year's finals. after a 3—2 win over belarus on friday, victory for northern ireland tonight at home to the faroe islands would see them seal a play—off spot. they've never reached a majorfinals. this would be historic.

wales need to beat belarus and hope northern ireland drop points. scotland, meanwhile, have three matches to go group leaders finland later in a must—win game. billy burns and james lowe have been ruled out of ireland's autumn nations cup third—place play—off with scotland this weekend. fly—half burns has failed to recover from a groin problem suffered in sunday's win over georgia, while winger lowe will be absent due to a similar issue. captainjohnny sexton and centre robbie henshaw should be back in the squad following their respective injuries. argentina's pablo matera has been stripped of the captaincy and suspended along with two teammates for "discriminatory and xenophobic" comments in historical social media posts. marta, guido petti and santiago socino posted comments which disparaged black people and those from other south american nations. they were posted between 2011 and 2013. the argentine rugby union say it

"strongly repudiates" the comments. the trio were due to face australia on saturday. marta, who plays club rugby for stade francais, has apologised and said he's "ashamed". we have loads of you on the website at the moment. and a reminder that the bbc sports personality of the year nominees are being announced throughout the day across the bbc. you can keep up to date with all that across our website. that's at bbc.co.uk/sport. that's all from me, i'll have a more for you a bit later. let's get more now on that debate in the house of commons on the government's proposals for its tiered system of coronavirus restrictions. opening the debate in the commons, the prime minister accused the opposition of sitting on their hands and not supporting his plan. quite extraordinary thing, mr speaker, that tonight, to the best of my knowledge, the right

honourable gentleman opposite who said he would always act in the national interest has told his party to sit on its hands and to abstain in the vote tonight. and i think the government has made its decision, we have taken some tough decisions are mr speaker, and the labour opposition has decided tonight, heroically, to abstain, mr speaker. and i think when the history of this pandemic comes to be written, i think the people of this country will observe that instead of having politicians of all parties coming together in the national interest, they had one party taking the decisions and another party heroically deciding to abstain, mr speaker. the labour leader defended his party's position of abstaining from the vote later today, saying the prime minister's plan is ‘full of holes'. we a cce pt we accept the case for restrictions but want a plan that is going to work, not plan five, and this one is full of holes. we have been there

so, so full of holes. we have been there so, so many full of holes. we have been there so, so many times, full of holes. we have been there so, so manytimes, so many full of holes. we have been there so, so many times, so many times the prime minister has stood there and said "this is the plan, this is the plan of this will solve the problem." the plan of this will solve the problem. " the fifth plan of this will solve the problem." the fifth time around, still a plan with holes that have been there for months. and it still not. why is tracked and trace are still not working? why other gaps in the support still there? why are those that are excluded not included? what are those that have to self—isolate is not given the support to do so? these are huge gaps in the system and fittingly broke through a plan without recognising those problems is not going to help. i accept the case restrictions, we will not stand in the way of these regulations, we do not want the restrictions to come after, but i am not going to stand here and pretend, as the prime minister does, that this is the plan that will soak it all. "vote for this, it will be fine until easter." that will not happen, nobody should vote on that basis today. thank you mr speaker.

a number of tory backbenchers have warned that they will vote against the government this evening. one of them is mark harper, the chair of the covid recovery group of mps. he's previously said that the "wheels are coming off the government's arguments". he's been speaking in the house in the last hour — let's have a listen to some of what he said. think the government has provided the information necessary to the house today to take decisions which are, by any normal measure, draconian. i am afraid i won't be able to support them. but i would say to my honourable friend on the front bench, if the government wants to maximise the unity, both in the house and in our party in the vote injanuary, house and in our party in the vote in january, he house and in our party in the vote injanuary, he needs to start treating members of parliament, and it needs to start sharing with members of parliament information that i hope ministers are asking for, but i fear are not. and if they we re for, but i fear are not. and if they were to do that, even though these are difficult decisions, and the forecasts are uncertain, i think people would be prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. it is because they are not treating the

house like that, that i am afraid on this occasion, i am not had to give them the benefit of the doubt i will be voting against the regulations this evening. that was mark harper talking a little earlier. let's just show you what's going on in the house of commons where that debate is in full swing. the snp abstaining from that vote. the snp abstaining from that vote. the government proposal is expected to be voted through. as you have been hearing, some tory backbenchers will be voting against, but not enough to threaten the government majority. we will keep you updated and of course bring you the result of that vote around 7pm tonight. when the new tierd system comes into force tomorrow, a number of areas will find themselves in tighter restrictions than they were under before england's national lockdown. warwickshire was in tier! in october but will face the toughest measures from tomorrow. phil mackie has been to atherstone in north warwickshire to find out what local people make of the new rules. it is the last day of

the current restrictions in atherstone in warwickshire. the fruit and veg store is busy, even though the market square isn't. tomorrow, the town will come out of lockdown two tiers higher than it went in. at the angel alehouse, carol evans is keeping everything spick—and—span, even though, because she does not sell food, she could not open even if in tier 2. it is just the uncertainty. obviously being a real ale pub, i need to have beer delivered, it needs to be in the cellar, and it needs to be settled. i can'tjust get a product one day before and then sell it. i need a timeframe for when we are going to be able to open properly. infection rates across warwickshire have been falling for a couple of weeks and are continuing to fall. they are higher in the south of the county than they are here, but despite that, the local conservative mp says he is minded to vote against the government. it is important that we are getting those voices in to the prime minister and to the ministerial team.

we have some great businesses that have tried their best to really weather the storm, but i think this isjust a step now that, without the real evidence, is pushing a lot of really good businesses in the constituency to the brink. it is click and collect only at the moment at crafty corner. tomorrow, customers will be able to come into browse tomorrow, customers will be able to come in to browse but only one at a time. but even that is something to look forward to. we need positivity. we need to hear something good, that is what we need. because i think even at this stage, because it has been going on for so many months now, when we do hear something slightly positive, we doubt it. even though we are actually very positive people, there is still doubt. so i'm not quite sure. it is how people are feeling. and it is the mental health that i worry about as well. back at the angel, carol is keeping the business ticking over by offering deliveries. everyone here hopes the next review will see atherstone enter a lower

tier in time for christmas, which means there is a glimpse of something brighter on the horizon. phil mackie, bbc news, warwickshire. the scottish government is not proposing any immediate changes today to the levels that currently apply to each local authority area. the first minister made the announcement during an update for msps at holyrood. the total number stop at his 7.3% of all tests are carried out, the total number of cases stands now at 95,811. 1021 people are currently in hospital, a decrease of 24 yesterday. and 70 people are in intensive care, which is five fewer than yesterday. i regret to say, however, that in the past 24 hours, a further 34 deaths have been registered of patients who tested positive over the previous 28 days. and the total number of deaths under that measurement is now 3759. these

figures remind us that the virus are still taking a toll across the country. and again, my thoughts and condolences are with everyone who has been bereaved stop i can confirm today the providing office and i will do so at the outset that the scottish government is not proposing any immediate changes today to the levels that currently apply to each local authority area. although as i will outline a moment, there are some areas that we are monitoring closely. overall, the latest data shows that the restrictions in place, we believe, are having an impact. scientists say the average global temperature could rise at a slower rate than previously feared — and that the target of the paris climate accord is coming "within reach". environment correspondent matt mcgrath reports. from the uk's wettest february on record to raging wildfires in california, the fingerprints of climate change linked to human activities have become increasingly clear this year. but efforts to curb greenhouse gases

— the root cause of global warming — have so far had limited impact. when countries signed the paris climate agreement in 2015, they undertook to limit the rise in temperatures to well below 2 celsius this century. but when scientists added up all the pledges made to cut carbon, they amounted to around 3 degrees of warming by 2100, with potentially disastrous consequences for the planet. however, the last three months have seen some significant changes. china surprised the world by announcing at the un they would aim for net—zero carbon emissions by 2060, while president—electjoe biden has promised the us will achieve the same goal ten years earlier. taken together, these steps would limit warming to 2.1 degrees — much closer to the paris goal. the scientists who have carried out this analysis say it's a significant step. you can argue about the exact figures but the trend is very clear. we are moving in the right direction, and we can clearly see

that more and more countries are taking it seriously and put very serious targets on the table. researchers say there are still many difficulties, particularly the absence of short—term plans from governments that reflect their long—term promises. but, after many years of bad news, this new forecast suggests that the efforts to tackle climate change are beginning to bearfruit. matt mcgrath, bbc news. a leading breast—feeding charity in the uk says it's in "a desperate situation" trying to support mothers who have given birth in lockdown. between april and september, the national breast—feeding helpline answered 125% more calls than they did in the same period last year. the restrictions in place meant that face—to—face professional and peer support was cancelled, and simple procedures like tongue—tie operations were severely restricted. ellie costello reports. yeah! this is baby zora and her parents, divinia and aaron. divinia decided she wanted

to breast—feed zora when she was born in may, but her tongue—tie made it almost impossible. ifelt like a failure, i can't imagine something that was supposed to be so natural to feel... to have this indescribable pain. tongue tie is where the strip of skin connecting the baby's tongue to the bottom of their mouth is shorter than usual, making latching onto the breast difficult for the baby. in the uk, a medical professional can cut the tongue tie in just a few seconds. the first lockdown meant face—to—face professional and community support for breast—feeding was cancelled, and research suggests 27% of new mothers struggled to get any support during that time. mums with difficult living circumstances or from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to find lockdown challenging and stop breast—feeding. zora's tongue tie was missed on three occasions. and minority ethnic backgrounds

were more likely to find lockdown it was eventually operated on at four months, after a referral was made privately. do you think it would have been noticed sooner had it not have been for the lockdown circumstances? definitely, because i would have been going into those breast—feeding cafes, i would have been sitting with the breast—feeding support councillors. they would have been able to really look at zora. we would have had more time. we put some money aside for things that we might need for zora. if we didn't do that, we probably wouldn't have been able to afford to see a private lactation consultant. between april and september, the national breastfeeding hotline answered 125% more calls than they did in the same period last year. the mums they spoke to felt isolated and alone, and their breast—feeding journeys were painful and frustrating. i have seen babies that have been in quite big trouble. i have seen a five—month—old baby that was only three ounces over birth weight because of a tongue tie. and that baby had been completely missed because there hadn't been any health district clinics to get

the baby weighed at, the mum had had very little contact with anybody. and this issue had just gone on and on. so, when the baby is coming to the breast, try and remember to plant the chin, and the top lip isjust going to be tipping over... emma pickett is the chair of the association of breast—feeding mothers. the research is really clear that if you wanted to breast—feed and it doesn't end up happening, you are at massively increased risk of having postnatal depression. feeling like a failure, when that is the last thing you are. you have been failed by the system — you have not failed as a parent. for me, my wife is a wonder woman, she is a super woman and, you know, i reallyjust wanted to be that support. so, what is divinia's advice for parents in the same position? try and get some help and also, don't blame yourself. ellie costello, bbc news. former rugby league player rob burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019, two years after ending his playing career. the former leeds rhinos star has been raising awareness and speaking about living

with the degenerative disease. his story has inspired his former team—mate kevin sinfield to support the cause by running seven marathons in seven days. and sally nugent has been to meet him. gosh, when we start, you are about to do something that is almost, i can't i get my head around it, you have decided to do seven marathons in seven days. our mad? probably, yes. all know why. but i think it is all around rob. everybody knows who rob burrow is now. and if people didn't from what he did in his rugby career, they certainly do know from what he has done in the last 12 months. that number is synonymous with him, at the club it is. to try and use that number in a way to try and use that number in a way to try

and once again keep him in everybody‘s thoughts. and ensure that the awareness and research around motor neurone disease continues and increases and improves better than it has ever done. that is the driving force. i know you have friends that will run part alongside you, how hard has it been to organise that with all of the restrictions at the moment? we are all getting tested this weekend. and it is pretty stringent. i will start times have to be different. you are doing this for your mate, rob, what is it about that friendship that is going to keep you going?|j is it about that friendship that is going to keep you going? i want to remember the good times, i wanted to make me laugh when we are running. i wa nt to make me laugh when we are running. i want to try to get away from those dark moments. in its simplest form, lam dark moments. in its simplest form, iamjust dark moments. in its simplest form, i am just trying to be a team—mate. when i think about it, i was his captain for 13 years, and there is... sorry.

it happens every time, every time i start talking about... yeah, i was his captain for 13 years, and although none of us play any more, we are a group although none of us play any more, we are a group of really close friends. and that isn'tjust about me and rob, there are probably five, ten, 15, 20 of those ex—players who feel exactly the way i feel about it and have done some one of the things this year. i am just a part of that, we this year. i am just a part of that, we have an unbelievable team spirit. we had some really special times and memories, and i think when you boil it down, i know he would do it for me. this is an audio message. i think you know who this is from.|j just want to wish ken a massive gold luck to his crazy challenge. you must be mad, cave, he has a ways beena must be mad, cave, he has a ways been a role model for me and somebody i have always held in the highest regard, as summary i have

always said. you know i would do the same for you. it means everything to me. a friend in need is a friend indeed. and this morning, after an early start, kevin finished the first of his marathons. he says he will face this challenge knowing his friend and former team—mate is cheering every single step. sally nugent, bbc bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. wasn't it a drab and dreary end to the month of november. a lot of low cloud and fog at times. this came as welcome news for the start of december. many of us had blue sky and sunshine but it was on the chilly side. we keep the sunshine across england and wales, clouding over a little from the north—west through the afternoon. and the cloud thick enough into scotla nd and the cloud thick enough into scotland and northern ireland perhaps for the odd spot or two of drizzle. temperatures should pick this afternoon between six and 10 degrees. as we go through the night

time, we keep those clear skies across east anglia and south—east england. temperatures here to fall close to freezing. clouding over the further west you go. there is a weather front bringing rain further west you go. there is a weatherfront bringing rain into scotla nd weatherfront bringing rain into scotland throughout the night. a contrast to the feel of the weather, we contrast to the feel of the weather, we could still see temperatures in the south—east east close to freezing. however, once at cold front sweeps its way steadily south—east, it really does open the floodgates for some very cold air to push across the country, the whole of the country. the early morning brightness will cloud over in the south—east, and weather front sinks its way over england and wales, bright and breezy with some blustery showers and gales on exposed coasts. and those showers can turn wintry with a daytime maximum of 3—5 c across much of scotland. the low pressure is here to stay as we close out the working week. and that could bring some more significant snow showers to scotland, perhaps for the early hours of thursday morning. as much as 5—10 centimetres falling across the hills. at the same time,

you will see some rain pushing into england and wales, particularly along or channel coast. a north—south divide in terms of the sunshine, but a pretty cold day quite widely across the country, particularly if you are caught in that rain. the low pressure is going to stay with us for friday, there is a great deal of uncertainty for the detailfor a great deal of uncertainty for the detail for friday's forecast. because once you have weather fronts bumping into this cold air, the question mark is how much snow are we question mark is how much snow are we likely to see? we are likely to see some snow into the higher ground of scotland, but the potential on friday to see some snow even at lower levels through scotland and across the hills of the pennines. it will be an cold day, the best of the sunshine across the south and west. worth bearing in mind if you have travel plans a little later this week that there is the possibility of some snow with some disruption on minor roads. keep watching the forecast.

this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines: 12,000 jobs likely to disappear from the high street as debenams goes out of business. it comes just hours after topshop owner arcadia collapsed into administration — putting another 13,000 jobs at risk. devastating for all those employees, and no easy time but coming up to christmas, the uncertainty now for 2021, i really do feel for all the individual employees and their families. this is the saint live in the house of commons as mp5 debate plans to introduce a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions across england tomorrow. we cannot afford to relax. especially during the cold months of winter.

police in germany have arrested the driver of a vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians in the city of trier, killing at least two and injuring at least ten more. a high court ruling on the treatment of children who say they're transgender — a woman who was prescribed puberty blockers when she was 16 says she's "delighted". the government urges businesses to make their final preparations for brexit — a month before the transition period ends. and formula one world champion lewis hamilton will miss this weekend's grand prix in bahrain after testing positive for covid—19. in a huge blow to jobs just before christmas, the department store chain debenhams is closing down. it comes afteer sports pulled

out of a rescue deal to save the retailer — which will now cease traing. across the country debenhams has 124 stores and employs around 12,000 workers who are likely to lose theirjobs. the retailer will continue to trade to clear its current and contracted stocks but it will then close if no offers are made for the business. last night another retail giant arcadia collapsed into adminstration — threatening a further 13,000 jobs. our business correspondent sarah corker reports. debenhams is a massive part of high streets across the uk, a focal point of many town centres but thousands of staff arrived for work this morning to be told the chain's124 shops will soon cease trading. there was a mixed response in leeds city centre today. we will not have any shopping centres left, we will have no town centres left when everybody shops online. but that is the way it's going,

that's the way young people are wanting, wanting it to be, and it has been coming for a long time. it has been a long time coming, really, in terms of the failure. i think it has been a long and slow decline for debenhams, it hasn't really changed with the times, not really kept up with the online development and its competitors. it really puts it into perspective how much covid is actually affecting everybody and, you know, things are closing and people are suffering, yeah. and all of this comes just hours after arcadia, the owners of topshop and dorothy perkins, fell into administration, setting off a chain reaction on the high street. arcadia's brands are the largest concession holder in debenhams. debenhams was struggling long before the pandemic hit. it fell into administration back in april for the second time and jd sports was widely seen as the last chance to save the chain but it pulled out of a rescue deal today.

debenhams started as a single shop in london in 1778. it survived recessions and battled the rise of the internet but tough trading conditions during the pandemic have proved to be the final blow to this ailing chain. debenhams has been the story of a retailer that lost its way a good few years ago. it got really addicted to price discounting, giving things away in things like blue cross sales, and it never really recovered and caught up with the changes in retail trends. it has never had a very strong online business and it has had lots of shops in very expensive locations that have been expensive to serve. and it really has kind of lost its core shopper. debenhams will keep on trading through its stores and online until it clears its current stock. the chain's demise will leave a big hole on already struggling high streets across britain. and 12,000 jobs are now at risk. devastating for all those employees. there is no easy time

but coming up to christmas, the uncertainty now going into 2021. i really do feel for the individual employees and their families. the former chairman of debenhams told the bbc the chain had too many high street outlets on long leases. if you don't have the ability to change — you can change your website online in a matter of weeks, you cannot reconfigure 190 stores across the country, and the real problem now is you have got to move so much faster and have so much more online if you're going to survive the changing competitive pressures. lockdown may end tomorrow, and shops are preparing to reopen across england, but this is proving to be the nightmare before christmas for 25,000 retail workers at debenhams and arcadia. sarah corker, bbc news, in leeds. our business editor simon jack

explained that arcadia's trading issues did not have a significant effect on the survival of debenhams. arcadia's collapse did not cause debenhams' collapse. the truth is thatjd sports' offer was hated by its own shareholders, they never came to an agreement and had people scratching their heads whatjd sports wanted with debenhams in the first place. so arcadia's demise, and some of that revenue that they used to get from arcadia franchises was more a pretext or an excuse to get out of a deal they had already got cold feet on. and a week of horrors on the high street, and we are only tuesday. yeah, i mean, 25,000jobs in the last 24 hours. you have to go back to woolworths about 12 years ago to have a bigger retail bust than this. it is tempting to think the entire retail sector is doomed, it is not. even some high street retailers are doing ok. next is doing pretty well, even marks & spencer's has got its mojo back a little bit. but these are weak businesses. debenhams, the second time it has

been in administration. arcadia almost collapsed last year. basically, it has been brutal, the pandemic, for businesses that already had underlying financial health issues. the prime minister has defended plans to introduce a stricter tiered system of restrictions across england when the national lockdown ends tomorrow. mps are debating the rules ahead of a crunch vote later — in which a number of conservative mps are expected to rebel against the government's plans. chris mason reports. boris johnson left for the commons at lunchtime. do you have the support of your party, prime minister? the answer is yes, but far from all of them. and so mrjohnson knows he has some people to persuade. i accept this is not a return to normality — i wish it was so. but it is a bit closer to normality than current restrictions, and what we cannot do is lift all of the restrictions at once

or move too quickly in such a way that the virus will begin to spread rapidly again. labour will abstain later, not voting for or against. sir keir starmer says he knows restrictions are needed but he has reservations, such as... only one in eight workers qualify for the one—off £500 self—isolation support, one in eight qualify for that support. anyone not receiving that has to rely on statutory sick pay which is the equivalent of £13 a day. that is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. the debate is expected to last all afternoon — more than 100 mp5 want to speak. all of them are aware of the severity of what people in england are being asked to do and it leaves some conservatives saying the restrictions go too far. if the government is to take away fundamental liberties of the people whom we represent,

they must demonstrate beyond question that they are acting in a way that is both proportionate and absolutely necessary. today i believe the government has failed to make that compelling case. the government is going to offer around £40 million of extra support for pubs in england most badly affected by the restrictions. labour's decision to abstain alongside the snp and the liberal democrats means the government is going to win later. while what you can do depends on where in england you are, some places can reopen everywhere, like hairdressers. after all of the noise, tiered restrictions are coming to england tomorrow. chris mason, bbc news at westminster. as mps continued that debate we have the latest coronavirus figures. the number of cases up from 12,330

yesterday, today is 13,430. a big rise in the number of deaths from 205 yesterday up to 603 today, that is deaths within 28 days of a covid positive test. the death toll going up positive test. the death toll going up from 205 yesterday to 603. monday isa up from 205 yesterday to 603. monday is a relatively low often because of a lack in reporting over the weekend but big rise from 205 yesterday to 603. let's get the latest on that commons debate. our political correspondent helen cattjoins me now. i suppose there grim figures were underlined the government's case that there has to be tough restrictions. yes, it certainly will, it is the context in which this whole debate is being looked at and the government's argument is restrictions need to be tough and they need to be tougher in some areas than they were before we went

into lockdown which is where a lot of the friction has come with the party pours my own backbenchers, many areas that were in tier 1 are now coming into tier 3 —— parti ‘s backbenchers. the bottom line is it is going to pass, and that is because with labour abstaining in the parliamentary maths means, the liberal democrats and snp also abstaining, it would mean for it to be defeated you'd have to have more conservative mps voting against the government than voting for it which seems pretty inconceivable which is why we can be pretty confident it will pass and those tiers will come in at midnight. what we've seen in the debate is some of where the pressure is going to come over the next few weeks and certainly towards the beginning of next year where the government will need once again to pass another vote of the commons if it wants to keep this tiered system in place beyond the end of january.

the pressure will come, lots of mps have spoken this afternoon about the issue about areas that have got a lower infection rate within a bigger area, and this feeling of unfairness with that. certainly that is where the pressure will come to try and move some the pressure will come to try and move some of those areas out of these higher tiers at these two week review points. this is all in the context of the infection rates and sadly the death rate around the country. as you say the government are going to get this through but i suppose depending on the size of the tory rebellion, what sort of numbers with the prime minister really be worried about in terms of that revolt? when it came to the national lockdown restrictions there were about 30 conservative mps, lockdown restrictions there were about 30 conservative mp5, 3435 that rebelled and voted against the government. the big figure to look for, anything higher than 34 or 35

would not be great for the government. the key figure is around 40, that is the number of mps that we 40, that is the number of mps that we need to vote against the government if labour were also voting to defeat it. if it looks like that number is going beyond 40 that spells potential danger for the next time mps have to vote on this because we now know labour‘s support for these measures is not a given and by choosing not to vote for them this afternoon labour says it would not be in at the national interest to vote against them but it cannot vote for them. therefore if it looks like there are significantly more than 40 conservative mps who would go against the government on this it will be very disturbing. we are not going to go to the commons. well, we we re going to go to the commons. well, we were going to go to hear steve baker, one of the rebels who is opposing the tiers. let's have a listen to steve baker, one of those rebels against the government.

listen to steve baker, one of those rebels against the governmentm says it takes three weeks for non—pharmaceutical interventions to have any impact on hospital admissions, therefore the window to act is now, underline, if you draw a vertical line 321 days after the 5th of november you find three hospital trust should have been exceeding surge capacity is and itjust did not happen. we need to have serious looking at the modelling. i provided a paper to the government on how to reform modelling. we need to have a serious look at how we deal with expert advice on this complex and contested field. i have provided a paper to the government. i happen to believe we need a new public health act that can allow us better to balance the absolute need to infringe people's civil liberties, balance that with people's fears they are being infringed too much, to show the proportionality. i reached out to a judicial expert and

he provided us with a 1—page summary that i've given government and what should be done. i've also come up with that more liberal plan that stands between where the government is moving in the direction towards a freer system. the care provided to the government. no one can say i or anyone working with me has not done our duty but here we stand a profoundly dangerous moment heading into infringements on our liberties are an vaccination and testing that we are an vaccination and testing that we would never normally tolerate. i therefore find with huge reluctance i will have to vote no tonight to send a message to the government. steve baker, one of the leaders of the backbench revolt against the government's plans on the three tiers for england. he is part of the coronavirus recovery group, he is one of its leaders. speaking very strongly against the idea of three

tiers of restrictions. we expect that vote around about seven o'clock this evening and of course we'll bring you that live on politics europe. —— live on bbc news. let's return to that news about the colla pse let's return to that news about the collapse of debenhams after let's return to that news about the collapse of debenhams afteer sports pulled out. let's get some analysis on what has gone wrong with debenhams. richard, how much of this was the pandemic, how much was debenhams' failure to adapt to the online shopping world and how much was just bad management?m online shopping world and how much wasjust bad management? it is a combination of all three. the pandemic hasjust combination of all three. the pandemic has just been the little nudge that was required to push debenhams over the edge into oblivion. debenhams has been

struggling for many, many years and it has really gone from pillar to post, from un—restructuring to another rescue to people putting more money in. it has defied attem pts more money in. it has defied atte m pts to more money in. it has defied attempts to really knock it into shape for the brave new very difficult retail market we have today. we thought for a while jd sports might be a knight in shining armour riding to the rescue but that has not happened. why not? that is another story in itself. i always found that to be really quite wades and something i could not work out in any commercial sense —— really quite weird. it seemed like a mad idea for quite weird. it seemed like a mad idea foer sports and i think they finally seen sense. i think the problem really is these are big businesses need constant investment

and constant updating, you cannot really sit there and enjoy success, you've got to be constantly looking to what is happening tomorrow, and debenhams really tended to sit still for many years. do you think the idea of going to a big department store on the high street to do your shopping, is thatjust dying or even as it already dead now? it is not dying, if you look at a business like selfridge's, which is closed at the moment but will reopen tomorrow, obviously. selfridge's is a fantastic successful business. unfocused mediocrity, i'm afraid, is being forced out of the market, that is what we're seeing. are seeing a vastly oversupplied retail market and something has to give. i am afraid today we've seen a big business giving up the ghost. don't

you think more big businesses on the high street are going to be giving up high street are going to be giving up the ghost as well? we are definitely going to see more because the reality is if you go back 15 or 20 years internet retelling did not exist in today it's worth over £100 billion. —— internet retail did not exist. you cannot have a massive new channel like that and for the original channel tojust channel like that and for the original channel to just carry on oblivious. something has to give and we are oblivious. something has to give and we are seeing a lot of giving up. there will be lots more of this and it is really desperately sad for the people that work there but that is the reality of economic life, i'm afraid. it really is desperately sad for 25,000 jobs, afraid. it really is desperately sad for25,000jobs, potentially, at arcadia and debenhams. richard, thank you very much indeed. german police say at least two people have died and several others are injured after they were hit by a car in a pedestrian area in the german city of trier. one local newspaper reports that

an eyewitness saw a dark grey range rover driving at high speed, before seeing people being thrown through the air. police have arrested one person. it's understood that the mayor of trier is at the scene of the crash, and will issue an update later today. damien mcguiness gave us the latest from berlin. we know police have arrested a man in his 505, he was apparently driving a range rover or a similar suv. he drove at speeds, say eyewitnesses, into a pedestrianised area in the centre of trier, quite a large city in north—western germany. the mayor of the city is describing this as an attack. police have not said that they know what the motivation behind this incident was, it is still not really clear whether it was possibly an accident

or indeed intentional. what we know is two people have died in this. 15 people are thought to be injured but that is according to the city's mayor. that is what he told journalists. it is still not clear if it was intentional. it is only really going from eyewitness reports so far where they say it seems to have been intentional but those are people who are traumatised by what they've seen because people in that town or that area are really upset. the police have told people to avoid those street where the incident has happened, and warned people to pick up their children from school and not let them walk home so they're obviously treating this as an ongoing incident and it is certainly very serious. over the afternoon as police release more details we will get the crucial information about what was really behind this incident and whether it was an accident or in fact intentional.

the high court has ruled on the medical treatment of children who are said to want to change to the opposite sex — saying those under the age of 16 are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to treatment that blocks puberty. a woman who was given puberty blocker drugs when she was 16 and is now detransitioning, says she believes the landmark ruling will give more protection to teenagers with gender dysphoria. i'm delighted at the judgment of the court today. it is a judgment that will protect vulnerable people. i wish it had been made for me before i embarked on the devastating experiment of puberty blockers. my life would be very different today. this time last year, ijoined this case with no hesitation, knowing what i knew about what had and has been going on with gender identity clinics. my hope was that, outside the noise of the culture wars, the court would shine a light on this harmful experiment on vulnerable children and young people. these drugs seriously harmed me in more ways than one, and they have harmed many more,

particularly young girls and women. this judgment is not political, it is about the protection of vulnerable children, please read it carefully. it exposes a complacent and dangerous culture at the heart of the national centre responsible for treating children and young people with gender dysphoria. our correspondent sangita myska has been following the case and spoke to us earlier for more. at the very heart of this case was the issue as to whether or not young people under the age of 18 are able to give a fully informed consent to taking puberty blockers. puberty blockers are the drugs that are the first medical step in transitioning gender from one to another. what the three judges at the court delivered today was a highly complex and nuanced judgment. what they decided to do was to try to split teenagers up according to their age. what the judgment says is that if you are 13 or under, you are highly unlikely to be able to give your fully informed consent to taking these drugs.

it says if you are below the age of 15, between 14 and 15, it is doubtful that you can give that consent. and if you are between the ages of 16 and 18, the law in england currently presumes that you are able to give consent. but the judges here today have said that, because of the highly experimental nature of these drugs — because scientists don't know the long—term effects of them on the body and on the mind — clinicians who are prescribing these drugs at the tavistock clinic, which is the only nhs gender transitioning clinic in the uk, may wish to come back to a court like this one and seek permission. today, tra ns—rights activists are saying that this is a huge blow to those rights. it says there are plenty of children around the country who are already struggling to get help, and this willjust delay that further, making their ordeal that much greater. the tavistock clinic says it will be appealing this decision. with a month to go until the end

of the post—brexit transition period, there's still no clarity about exactly how the uk's borders will operate outside the eu's economic zone — the single market and the customs union. the government says "huge advances" have been made in its preparations, but businesses that trade across the border are extremely concerned. chris morris from our reality check tea m chris morris from our reality check team is with me. obviously everything depends on whether or not there is a trade deal but give us an idea of what is in place anyway. there may well be a trade deal that could get rid of tariffs but the point is from the 1st of january whether or not there is a trade deal that will be a massive amount of new red tape for businesses that trade across the border. that's because all exports from great britain into the eu will face full checks from january the 1st. customs declarations, checking product

standards, food safety, vat regime, all sorts of things. people come to the border in dover without the right documents they will be turned away. one of the responses from our government has to say we will, for trade going into the uk, great britain, from the eu, we will delay full checks untiljuly the 1st. another six months. businesses are saying that might be enough but that might need to be extended even further to avoid the kind of disruption all these businesses who are criticising some government policy so desperately want to avoid. but kent will be at the sharp end of this. what exactly does this mean for kent? the thing with kent if you have dover— calais and the channel tunnel, together handling 4 million lorries every year, a huge amount of trade. one of the problems is the lorries tend to go back and forth all the time and 85% of the volume of trade is carried by european

hauliers. many in the industry feel these people are often paid by the kilometre rather than by the hour and if they think they will be sitting in queues all day they simply will not come, at least for a while, that could prove a problem for trade to keep going in the way people want it to. the other thing the government is doing is putting, setting up lorry parks in kent to avoid motorway congestion and creating access permit so lorries are not even allowed to go into kent if they don't have a permit showing they have the right documents. the trouble is that does not include va ns trouble is that does not include vans and thousands of fans across the channel every week, lots of them go to places like poland and pick up the back of the van with stuff and supplying lots of the smaller shops around the country. if they don't have the right documents they could create congestion as well. as we've been discussing, over recent months, lots of implications for northern ireland. i think people i spoke to,

retailers, hauliers, ifanything, this is their biggest concern at the moment because northern ireland will be treated differently under the terms of the northern ireland protocol in the brexit withdrawal agreement. there will be no delay that, the new regime from the 1st of january come what may. at the moment are people who trade who try to bring stuff from great britain to northern ireland, within the uk, they don't know what trade will look like next month. they know there will be a new customs it system but none of them have ever used before, the government set up a scheme to help with that but they are pretty sceptical and they don't know whether there will be tariffs on goods that are at risk of moving on from northern ireland into the eu. they do know there will be full checks on food of animal origin, huge amounts of food every day going to supermarkets in northern ireland from great britain. a lorry full of sandwiches and frozen chicken. in theory, all those individual items

have to have certificates to shout they have been checked and there will be lots of physical checks as well on food —— to show with can check. business groups in northern ireland are saying we cannot be ready in time and we need what they are calling an adjustment period. they cannot call it another transition period because we've been told we can't have one of those but they are trying to say we need more time to be able to get used to a huge change in the way we do business but until negotiations come to an end they don't really know whether that is genuinely a realistic prospect. those negotiations running out of time. it has been the crucial week every week for the last few weeks but we are now for, five, only 20 working days before the end of the year. something needs to happen pretty soon. the expectation is this week or early next week is the time when if anything is going to happen a deal would emerge.

a dramatic moment when a missing sailor was rescued from his sinking boat in the atlantic ocean. the crew of a container ship spotted stuart bee clinging to the remaining part of his capsized boat stingray — two days after he'd gone missing — 86 miles off the florida coast. a flotation aid was thrown to him and then he swam for it. the first thing the 62—year—old did when he clambered on board the rescue vessel was to make the sign of the cross. now it's time for a look at the weather. it isa it is a new month and a new weather story to tell. we have lost that drab november gray and this morning we drab november gray and this morning we had some sunshine, particularly across eastern areas. a few scattered showers running in off the north sea and clouding over. in the far north—west with the arrival of a weather front later today clouding over. weather front later today clouding over. some of that thick enough for a spot of drizzle. temperatures should pick between six and 10 degrees. as we go through the night

tonight, that weather front continues to push its way south and east and will bring a blanket of cloud for many and some outbreaks of rain into scotland. the far south east may well just rain into scotland. the far south east may welljust cling onto those clear skies. here, temperatures may fall close to freezing so frost possible. it will cloud over quite quickly during wednesday morning. a weather front bringing outbreaks of rain into northern england and wales. blustery, squally showers developed in the far north—west of scotla nd developed in the far north—west of scotland or some of these will turn increasingly wintry as much colder air kicks in behind that cold front. a notable difference with the feel of the weather tomorrow. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines... 12,000 jobs at risk at debehnams, as last—ditch efforts to rescue the ailing department store fail. just hours earlier, topshop owner arcadia collapsed into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk there.

this is the scene line in the house of commons. mps are debating plans to introduce a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions across england tomorrow. police in germany have arrested the driver of a vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians, killing at least two and injuring ar least ten more in the city of trier. a high court ruling on the treatment of children who say they're transgender — a woman given puberty blockers at the age of 16 says she's "delighted" at greater protection for teenagers with dysphoria. the government is urging businesses to make their final preparations for brexit, a month before the transition period ends. scientists say there's cause for optimism after changing approaches from china and the us mean the paris climate accord is "within reach". sport now, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's holly. it has been a great season for lewis hamilton but some disappointing news

for him now. the seven—time formula one world champion lewis hamilton says he's "devastated" after testing positive for cornavirus. he's self—isolating for ten days and will miss this weekend's sakhir grand brix in bahrain. as part of a lengthy statement on social media, hamilton said... mercedes say hamilton is only showing minor symptoms and is otherwise fit and well. the question is — if hamilton is able to return before the end of the season, will this man bejoining him? romain grosjean has said he hopes to compete in abu dhabi in less than two weeks' time, despite his horrific crash at the weekend. the haas driver, who'll spend a third night in hospital with burn injuries to his hands, posted this picture on social media earlier.

he said, "never thought a few body squats would make me happy. body recovering well from the impact. hopefully same about the burns on my hands." in football, newcastle's training ground remains shut today as the club try to control an outbreak of coronavirus. three players and one member of staff had tested positive — with more new cases emerging following another test on sunday. it remains unclear if the club can return to training tomorrow. they play aston villa in the league on friday. the game is still set to go ahead. premier league rules say the match will only be postponed if a team has 14 players or less available. the england manager, gareth southgate, has told the bbc that he thinks the introduction of concussion substitutions could be coming into football soon. it follows a serious head collision in the premier league last weekend that left one player

with a fractured skull. he also told us that, as a former player, he does have concerns about his own health and dementia. we just wejust don't we just don't have the research, i know that has been ongoing, and the fa are dealing with it. i was asked a few weeks ago if i have concerns about that as a former player, well, of course i do, because it is a horrible illness. and it is one that i have seen with family the impact of it. but i know when i was playing that i knew the risks i was taking. around my health. and i would not have swapped that for the career i had. it's another big night in the champions league, jurgen klopp's liverpool will reach the knockouts if they avoid defeat against ajax at anfield. they won the reverse fixture 1—0 in amsterdam, but defender andy robertson knows his team will face a tough test later.

their history is phenomenal, and their team just now is phenomenal. we know what is at stake. we know if we know what is at stake. we know if we win, we will be through to the last 16, and that is always the aim. we wa nt last 16, and that is always the aim. we want to go far in this competition, and we know we need to get through the group stages first and foremost, and we have a chance to do that. and manchester city are already into the last 16 having won their first four group games. a draw tonight against porto in portugal will seal top spot in group c. a big night too ahead of the women's european championships in 2022. northern ireland, wales and scotland could still qualify for next year's finals. after a 3—2 win over belarus on friday, victory for northern ireland tonight at home to the faroe islands would see them seal a play—off spot. they've never reached a majorfinals. this would be huge. wales need to beat belarus and hope northern ireland drop points.

scotland's women are at home to finland in group e. defeat could end their hopes of qualifying. england are going for a 3—0 whitewash in their t20 series with south africa. the hosts are batting after winning the toss in cape town. they made a rapid start, a few moments ago they were 45 a few moments ago they were 45 for one. plenty more on the bbc sport website. you can watch live streams of this afternoon's third round uk championship snooker matches, plus keep up to date with england's third t20 against south africa. and a reminder the bbc sports personality of the year nominees are being announced throughout the day across the bbc. let's get more now on that debate

in the house of commons on the government's proposals for its tiered system of coronavirus restrictions. quite a lot of opposition from tory backbenchers who feel that the restrictions are too tough. opening the debate in the commons, the prime minister accused the opposition of sitting on their hands and not supporting his plan. it is a quite extraordinary thing, mr speaker, that tonight, to the best of my knowledge, the right honourable gentleman opposite who said he would always act in the national interest has told his party to sit on its hands and to abstain in the vote tonight. and i think the government has made its decision, we have taken some tough decisions, mr speaker, and the labour opposition has decided tonight, heroically, to abstain, mr speaker. and i think when the history of this

pandemic comes to be written, i think the people of this country will observe that instead of having politicians of all parties coming together in the national interest, they had one party taking the decisions and another party heroically deciding to abstain, mr speaker. that was boris johnson that was borisjohnson opening the debate. the labour leader defended his party's position of abstaining from the vote later today, saying the prime minister's plan was far from comprehensive. we accept the case for restrictions but want a plan that is going to work, not plan five, and this one is full of holes. we have been there so, so many times, so many times the prime minister has stood there and said "this is the plan, this is the plan, this will solve the problem. " the fifth time around, still a plan with holes that have been there for months. and still not...

why is track and trace still not working? why are there gaps in the support still there? why are those that are excluded not included? why are those that have to self—isolate not given the support to do so? i accept the restrictions, we will not stand in the way of these regulations, we do not want the restrictions to come after, but i am not going to stand here and pretend, as the prime minister does, that this is the plan that will solve it all. "vote for this, it will be fine until easter. " that will not happen, nobody should vote on that basis today. thank you, mr speaker. that was so clear starmer speaking in the commons earlier. let's speak now to kate nicholls, chief executive of uk hospitality — a trade association which represents the interests of the uk's hospitality sector. we, almost certainly, the government will win at this vote. we will get the three tiers, most of thing that will be under tier 2 and tier 3. what does it mean for your members, for the hospitality industry? what does it mean for your members, for the hospitality industry7m what does it mean for your members, for the hospitality industry? it is

absolutely devastating for the hospitality industry. these are strict instructions on trade, it means it is very difficult our member businesses operate pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, all severely restricted. crucially, these tiers mean about 89% of hospitality businesses will be unviable by the end of january without further significant support from the government or the businesses to compensate them for the closure and restrictions. and the closure and restrictions. and the disproportionate burden they are being asked to bear by the government. on that point of compensation, the prime minister has announced £1000 for each pub. to be closed by these restrictions. what do you make of that? it is hopeful that there is a recognition that this will be a severe restriction on their ability to trade. that £1000, to put in context, it is only going to put in context, it is only going to pubs that cannot to food. people are having to make a choice between closing totally or opening partially, and to put it in context of terms revenue, those pubs will

expect to earn between £50,000 — six £2000 in trade over the course of december. so it is a drop in the ocean compared to the tray they are losing at the most liable time of year. —— between £50,000 and £60,000. they still have to bear significant cost of being closed or being severely restricted. that is why these proposals put hospitality businesses at risk of widespread failure and massive job losses, because they take away their earning potential, they make them trade and economically or not at all, and the compensation available doesn't cover the fixed costs. in the new year, many businesses will be staring into the face of failure. you mentioned pubs that do food, they can stay open. there is a bit of a national debate at the moment about what constitutes a substantial meal. one government minister suggesting this week that a scotch egg would do it. what is your view on what is a substantial meal in a pub? the new

regulations talk about table meals, table meals around a table, having a meal at lunch, breakfast, dinner or a main course. those are the definitions of the regulation. it is quite clear that he table meal will va ry quite clear that he table meal will vary by person. and it is understandable that if you have got some discretion to be able to apply it to some discretion to be able to apply ittoa some discretion to be able to apply it to a scotch egg or a three course meal at a fine dining restaurant. the question is why does it need to bea the question is why does it need to be a table meal? why is it ok to sit ina be a table meal? why is it ok to sit in a theatre or a cinema and drink alcohol but you can't sit outside a pub with friends and drink alcohol? what difference is a table meal make? we really need to make sure that and keeps these strict instructions under review on a 28 day basis to remove the ones that have proved to have real significant economic harm. the prime minister should be making sure that the proposals that are brought forward our targeted at the areas that will have most effect on driving down transmission and infection and have the least economic harm. at the moment, we have at the other way

around, we have arbitrary and disseminate three decisions that are costing businesses dearly. and if we are not careful, we will lose a vast swathes of our pubs and community pubs, neighbourhood restaurants and our hospitality estate as well as over our hospitality estate as well as over1 million our hospitality estate as well as over1millionjobs. our hospitality estate as well as over1 million jobs. i our hospitality estate as well as over1 millionjobs. i know our hospitality estate as well as over1 million jobs. i know it is ha rd over1 million jobs. i know it is hard for the government to be clear on what exactly a meal is, but when a minister says a scotch egg, we have been laughing about it obviously, there is a difficulty on the messaging there, isn't there? police might come and say, "this pub needs to shut down," but the landlord might say, "we are serving scotch eggs, and the government said that was ok." i think scotch eggs, and the government said that was ok. " i think this is the problem, we are 24 hours away, less than 24 hours away from these new regulations taking effect, we don't have the guidance to support these businesses, we don't have clear enforcement procedures, we don't have real certainty on the regulations, they only came out this morning. it is really unfair on

these businesses who are bearing the brunt of the burden, bearing the brunt of the burden, bearing the brunt of the enforcement of decisions and being asked to carry the main restrictions to bear down on transmission while the rest of the economy opens up. that is why it is so important that we stand in solidarity, support these businesses, given the compensation to allow them to trade or allow them to allow them to trade or allow them to close if necessary if they can't manage to deal with this complicity and myriad of interpretations. that way, we will have a hospitality industry ready to be able to pick up the button when we come at the other side with the vaccine, able to generatejobs and side with the vaccine, able to generate jobs and growth. side with the vaccine, able to generatejobs and growth. otherwise ifear generatejobs and growth. otherwise i fear we generatejobs and growth. otherwise ifearwe are going generatejobs and growth. otherwise i fear we are going to lose large numbers of the businesses, and we won't be able to recover as quickly. kate nichols, always good to talk to you. thank you very much. and we're expecting that vote at about 7pm

this evening, we'll bring you the result as soon as it happens it is expected that the government will get those new tiered restrictions through the commons, although there will be a rebellion from a number of tory backbench mps. when the new tierd system comes into force tomorrow, a number of areas will find themselves in tighter restrictions than they were under before england's national lockdown. warwickshire was in tier! in october but will face the toughest measures from tomorrow. phil mackie has been to atherstone in north warwickshire to find out what local people make of the new rules. it is the last day of the current restrictions in atherstone in warwickshire. the fruit and veg store is busy, even though the market square isn't. tomorrow, the town will come out of lockdown two tiers higher than it went in. at the angel alehouse, carol evans is keeping everything spick—and—span, even though, because she does not sell food, she could not

open even if in tier 2. it is just the uncertainty. obviously being a real ale pub, i need to have beer delivered, it needs to be in the cellar, and it needs to be settled. i can'tjust get a product one day before and then sell it. i need a timeframe for when we are going to be able to open properly. infection rates across warwickshire have been falling for a couple of weeks and are continuing to fall. they are higher in the south of the county than they are here, but despite that, the local conservative mp says he is minded to vote against the government. it is important that we are getting those voices in to the prime minister and to the ministerial team. we have some great businesses that have tried their best to really weather the storm, but i think this isjust a step now that, without the real evidence, is pushing a lot of really good businesses in the constituency to the brink. it is click and collect only at the moment at crafty corner. tomorrow, customers will be able

to come in to browse but only one at a time. but even that is something to look forward to. we need positivity. we need to hear something good, that is what we need. because i think even at this stage, because it has been going on for so many months now, when we do hear something slightly positive, we doubt it. even though we are actually very positive people, there is still doubt. so i'm not quite sure. it is how people are feeling. and it is the mental health that i worry about as well. back at the angel, carol is keeping the business ticking over by offering deliveries. everyone here hopes the next review will see atherstone enter a lower tier in time for christmas, which means there is a glimpse of something brighter on the horizon. phil mackie, bbc news, warwickshire. some breaking news from the world of

football. we are just hearing that newcastle united's premier league match at aston villa on december the 4th this week, that is friday, has been postponed because of a number of covid—19 cases at newcastle. there is a club statement, we already knew that a number of individuals at newcastle had tested positive. the statement from newcastle says that several newcastle says that several newcastle united players and staff members self—isolating at home after returning positive tests in recent days. the club's training centre has been temporarily closed in order to contain the spread of the virus. the magpies first team is currently unable to prepare for the match as a group says the statement, newcastle united lodged a request with the premier league's to postpone the match. the match between newcastle and villa is off on friday because a number of newcastle united players have tested positive. the match was

set to kick off at 8pm on friday evening. it will now be rescheduled. a new date and a new time will be confirmed in due course. newcastle are saying that they would like to thank aston villa for their understanding. newcastle also saying they were one of the first clubs in they were one of the first clubs in the country to close their training ground prior to the first national lockdown in march and the club introduced comprehensive covid—19 protocols in line with the premier league. that newcastle— villa game on friday evening is off because a number of newcastle players have tested positive. the scottish government is not proposing any immediate changes today to the levels that currently apply to each local authority area. the first minister made the announcement during an update for msps at holyrood. the total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 754 — 7.3% of all tests carried out. the total number of cases

stands now at 95,811. 1,021 people are currently in hospital, a decrease of 20 from yesterday, and 70 people are in intensive care, which is five fewer than yesterday. i regret to say, however, in the past 24 hours a further 34 deaths have been registered of patients who tested positive over the previous 28 days. and the total number of deaths under that measurement is now 3,759. these figures remind us the virus is still taking a toll across the country, and again my thoughts and condolences are with everyone who has been bereaved. i can confirm today, presiding officer, i will do so at the outset, that the scottish government is not proposing any immediate changes today to the levels that currently apply to each authority area. although as i will outline in a moment, there are some areas that we are monitoring closely.

overall, though, the latest data shows that the restrictions in place, we believe, are having an impact. that has nicola sturgeon a little earlier. scientists say the average global temperature could rise at a slower rate than previously feared and that the target of the paris climate accord is coming "within reach". the climate action tracker study says it's being helped by the commitments from china, and the us president—elect, joe biden. but experts are worried the long—term optimism is not matched by short—term plans to cut co2. environment correspondent matt mcgrath reports. from the uk's wettest february on record to raging wildfires in california, the fingerprints of climate change linked to human activities have become increasingly clear this year. but efforts to curb greenhouse gases — the root cause of global warming — have so far had limited impact. when countries signed the paris climate agreement in 2015, they undertook to limit the rise in temperatures to well below 2 celsius this century.

but when scientists added up all the pledges made to cut carbon, they amounted to around 3 degrees of warming by 2100, with potentially disastrous consequences for the planet. however, the last three months have seen some significant changes. china surprised the world by announcing at the un they would aim for net—zero carbon emissions by 2060, while president—electjoe biden has promised the us will achieve the same goal ten years earlier. taken together, these steps would limit warming to 2.1 degrees — much closer to the paris goal. the scientists who have carried out this analysis say it's a significant step. you can argue about the exact figures, but the trend is very clear. we are moving in the right direction, and we can clearly see that more and more countries are taking it seriously and put very serious targets on the table. researchers say there are still many difficulties, particularly the absence of short—term plans from governments that reflect their long—term promises.

but, after many years of bad news, this new forecast suggests that the efforts to tackle climate change are beginning to bearfruit. matt mcgrath, bbc news. a leading breast—feeding charity in the uk says it's in "a desperate situation" trying to support mothers who have given birth in lockdown. between april and september, the national breast—feeding helpline answered 125% more calls than they did in the same period last year. the restrictions in place meant that face—to—face professional and peer support was cancelled, and simple procedures like tongue—tie operations were severely restricted. yeah! this is baby zora and her parents, divinia and aaron. divinia decided she wanted to breast—feed zora when she was born in may, but her tongue—tie made it almost impossible. ifelt like a failure, i can't imagine something that was supposed to be so natural to feel... to have this indescribable pain. tongue tie is where the strip

of skin connecting the baby's tongue to the bottom of their mouth is shorter than usual, making latching onto the breast difficult for the baby. in the uk, a medical professional can cut the tongue tie in just a few seconds. the first lockdown meant face—to—face professional and community support for breast—feeding was cancelled, and research suggests 27% of new mothers struggled to get any support during that time. mums with difficult living circumstances or from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to find lockdown challenging and stop breast—feeding. zora's tongue tie was missed on three occasions. it was eventually operated on at four months, after a referral was made privately. do you think it would have been noticed sooner had it not have been for the lockdown circumstances? definitely, because i would have been going into those breast—feeding cafes, i would have been sitting with the breast—feeding support councillors. they would have been able to really look at zora.

we would have had more time. we put some money aside for things that we might need for zora. if we didn't do that, we probably wouldn't have been able to afford to see a private lactation consultant. between april and september, the national breastfeeding hotline answered 125% more calls than they did in the same period last year. the mums they spoke to felt isolated and alone, and their breast—feeding journeys were painful and frustrating. i have seen babies that have been in quite big trouble. i have seen a five—month—old baby that was only three ounces over birth weight because of a tongue tie. and that baby had been completely missed because there hadn't been any health district clinics to get the baby weighed at, the mum had had very little contact with anybody. and this issue had just gone on and on. so, when the baby is coming to the breast, try and remember to plant the chin, and the top lip isjust going to be tipping over... emma pickett is the chair of the association of breast—feeding mothers.

the research is really clear that if you wanted to breast—feed and it doesn't end up happening, you are at massively increased risk of having postnatal depression. feeling like a failure, when that is the last thing you are. you have been failed by the system — you have not failed as a parent. for me, my wife is a wonder woman, she is a super woman and, you know, i reallyjust wanted to be that support. so, what is divinia's advice for parents in the same position? try and get some help and also, don't blame yourself. ellie costello, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather. it isa it is a new month and a new weather story to tell. we have lost that cla p story to tell. we have lost that clap november grey, and this morning, we had some sunshine, particularly across eastern areas. a few scattered showers running in off the north sea and clouding over now into that far north—west with the arrival of a weather front later

today. some of that cloud thick enough for a spot or two of drizzle, but temperatures should peak between six and 10 degrees. as we go through the night tonight, that weather front continues to push its way south and east. it will a blanket of cloud for many and some outbreaks of rain into scotland. the far south east may well just rain into scotland. the far south east may welljust cling on to those clear skies, and here, temperatures could fall close to freezing, so a touch of light frost quite possible. it will cloud over quite quickly during wednesday morning, but when the fund brings outbreaks of rain into northern england and wales. blustery, squally showers developed in the far north—west of scotland, and some of these will turn increasingly wintry is much colder air kicks in behind that cold front. a notable difference in the feel of the weather tomorrow.

this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines... 12,000 jobs likely to disappear from the high street, as debenams goes out of business. it comes just hours after topshop owner, arcadia, collapsed into administration, putting another 13,000 jobs at risk. devastating for all those employees, and no easy time, but coming up to christmas, the uncertainty now for 2021, i really do feel for all the individual employees and their families. mps are debating plans to introduce a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions across england tomorrow. this is the scene live from the house of commons. we cannot afford to relax, especially during the cold months of winter.