this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. 107 daily upset of newscasts and american markets tonight here with one of our oldest friends. welcome from brussels. hello, good evening. happy 700 daily newscast.—

daily newscast. that rolls off the tongue! _ daily newscast. that rolls off the tongue! thank _ daily newscast. that rolls off the tongue! thank you - daily newscast. that rolls off the tongue! thank you so . daily newscast. that rolls off. the tongue! thank you so much for being part of the journey, and of course thatjenny started even more episodes ago than that. and we will mention switzerland tonight. we might get your thoughts on that letter but in those days we were never short of a cake so we have managed to get one to celebrate the 704th episode tonight. the bad news is it doesn't have any eggs in it because there is a massive egg shortage at the moment, a combination of the supermarkets and farmers not getting on and avian flu. it is very red and then something gooey in the middle and on the top. we will see that how long that cakes remains uneaten. you should go into advertising, chris. we will see how long it goes uneaten in this episode of newscast.

and chris in the studio. and catch it in the studio but the brussels one stop light that cake is still winking at me. also with us will be labour mp and former shadow home secretaryjack diane abbott and johnny is done and i will be the scottish conservative leader douglas ross. first today's big news story was the migration figures. this is the office of national statistics. they have a new way of measuring it so we shouldn't may be totally compared with old numbers but they found there was 1.1 million people moved to the uk in the last year and if you have scrapped the number of people and uk depleted net migration figure of 504,000. huge number, bigger than we have seen ever before. only 200 —ish thousand. there are factors that

might mean this is a bit because of the one in advocates of those who have come from hong kong and from afghanistan but the number is by any comparison huge. it happens just as we have seen rishi sunak saying he wants to see immigration fall, a conserved promise for a long time even though it has been doing the opposite or numbers remain tight and keir starmer the other day at the cbi business leaders conference in birmingham saying there was an immigration dependency. i interviewed him and try to get him to say do you want to see it fall and he said i'm not getting into numbers and i said i am not asking you about that, iwant... the clear thrust of what he was saying was an idea to adjust the concern of some that the numbers are too high. then you see the number at 500,000. it is a bit of a head spinner because on the one hand it is kinda flattering to the uk that we are this

magnet that lots of people are drawn to words, there are those who say you need immigration to help drive economic growth and yet you have political leaders saying one thing, the observable reality being the other, charges are on public services as the population swells, school places, doctor's appointment, ambulance waiting, all that kind of stuff, so it is really hard and what happens to those people who voted leave because they wanted to see immigration fall, now looking at the numbers, where do they go, what is the political consequences. and these are people who have got visas granted to them either because they were joining family members here who were here already, their employers were entitled to bring them into do a job in the uk early through a government scheme like ukraine or hong kong or afghanistan were lots of students coming in and spending lots of money and people coming over on the small boats on the channel illegally as a government would

say is a tiny number. the number we are looking at are people who are legally here and ultimately the government chose to allow to come, it was a political decision. katya, there has been talk in conservative circles about an upgraded version of the brexit deal that might look a little bit more like the many deals switzerland has with the eu which includes free movement of people so unlimited migration, those reports have been roundly denied by government figures but what is your take on that conversation and what is brussels take on the fact that seems to be happening? what is the swiss style deal? it is switzerland saying we don't want to be a member of the eu but we want to have a closer relationship where it suits us and then russell says it has to suit us ——where it suits us and then brussels says it has to suit us as well and that is how switzerland ended up with freedom of movement as part of the package even though it absolutely

didn't want it, has tried to stop it and it has been quite a tense relationship in brussels has been trying to pull switzerland into its close orbit since. it is not as easy as some paints because you can't have your cake and eat it, a relationship with the eu that is frictionless and not being part of the single market and the customs union but it was always expected amongst many british diplomats that overtime when word brexit have stopped being so politically explosive it might be logical on the uk side as well as the eu to explore some of those avenues where you could get rid of some of the friction without having a political dynamite. the eu would always like to have a closer relationship with the uk, its own advantage but they can't only be one sided, you can't have the cake and eat it scenario so at the moment arm folded and they are waiting to see. stay with us because you will be talking about some actual explosions you have been covering at the bottom of the sea later on in this

episode of newscast. making her triumphant return to thursday night light light political telly it gives me great pleasure to say, i have always wanted to say this, diane abbott. welcome. that was not a very good andrew neil impression. i am urgent that you, andrew and micah meet for a chinwag in the pizza. we did it for seven years solidly, extraordinary. when i was first asked i thought andrew neil and michael portillo. but it did work out. there are loads of areas you have got experience and expertise on but one of the big news stories today is about and its migration figures, 504,000, and just by coincidence your party leader did a speech on immigration this week, how do you think?

his speech about the country can't rely on lots of immigration any more and then those numbers, what happens when you put things together. the problem with those numbers, they are largely due _ to what is happening in ukraine and afghanistan and general. instability in the world - but they are going to upset people don't like immigration in principle, which in a way. is good for care summer. because it was the speech was about, it wasn't about low| wages, because if you're really concerned about low wages you put up the national- minimum wage, simple, - and you enforce it for people who are casually employed. it was really a speech - addressed to people who how can i put it are not- favourable to immigration. but with these figures, timing is everything. . would you care keir starmer was blowing the dog whistles, making a statement designed to appeal to a certain person? it was dog whistle politics. how do you feel about that?

he is 20 points ahead in the ol - . ., ., ., ~' , but what i thought was remarkable was he has almost been boasting - about how our immigration policy is the same as _ the tories and he sounded a bit like suella braverman- and the cbi beach, we can't have more immigrants, employ local people - and train them up. immigration dependency. that was the phrase - until it was spun was to give a very deliberate impression. it sounds like suella braverman. - the only thing where - she is different as the rwanda scheme but that isn'tl going to work anyway. let's have a little listen to keir starmer so people can make up their own minds. this was his speech to the cbi. chris was in the audience and interviewed him afterwards this was on tuesday. our common goal must be to help the british economy

off its immigration dependency. the days when low pay and cheap labour are part of the british way on growth must end. you are talking about the figures and how a lot of them are from ukraine and hong kong and afghanistan and other trouble spots in the world. do you think britain pulls my generosity will make it harder to bring people in in the future because people willjust see this number and think it is too big irrespective of whether people, not? when it comes to people seeking asylum it is notl about people feeling generous, international rules _ and treaties applied, i he just can't turn away ukrainians seeking asylum j because daily mail readers get upset, that is not how it works. - are there other aspects of keir starmer�*s growing policy platform you are unhappy with? well, he is 20 points ahead in the polls so i can't say anything.

what i would say is he has been very resolute in refusing - to back any of the groups of workers on strike. - his argument is we are going i to be in government and we can itake sides but back in the day, l ministers in labour governments did go on picket lines - and i knowjohn prescott went ion picket lines, so there is noi law says that labour party even in government can't go on picket lines. - but it being seen to be tough on immigration, do not stand on picket lines helps contribute to labour having a big opinion poll lead and who knows to the extent those things are factors is it worthwhile if it makes from your perspective a labour government more likely even if aspects of that are not exactly how you would like to see?

if he is 20 points ahead ml the polls you can't criticise really but on immigrationj the only thing i would say is there are people that are voters that would . like to see an immigration policy based on facts, - because the daily mail - and suella braverman would tell you we are being overrun, i we aren't, we actually take fewer asylum seekers per head than germany and france. - there is the question around asylum and small boat crossings mps get on social media and i was thinking back to the research from one of the elections you have fought a lot, that found that something like 45% of the hateful tweets were aimed directly at you, which is an astonishing stat. how's that going now? do you still get

that tonne of abuse? we still get a tonne i of abuse but i tend not to read a lot of it. so on twitter, i don't i look at the comments. it would be bad for my mental health if i did. | apart from that, i don't do. facebook anyway, i don't look at my own correspondence, my staff go through it. - my staff would say it is as bad because it is a mix of. - people that don't like women, and women get more abuse i than men, and people who don't like black people. _ so as far as i know, it's the same. - it is depressing, isn't it? you are a pioneering mp, the first black woman mp, you have been in parliament for decades, and yet, and yet, despite all of that and all the different posts you have held within the labour party, this sort of torrent of web you abuse. —— horrible abuse put it to such an extent that the only way you cope with it is by not going near it. you talked about the misogyny element and the racial element it is horrible or whatever is motivating people, but how does it break down?

does it lean more heavily racial or misogynistic? i think it leans- more heavily racial. and there is something that upsets people about a black woman who is confident and out there, you know and i think it. leans more heavily racial- but there is that misogynistic and some of it is- sexualised because you are a woman politician. and with the stabbing _ of david ames, we had this man who was sending horrible i correspondence, but he was fixated on david ames. someone told me they startedj to worry and when they looked into it, they found, - well, they were worried because he was telling them when i got my cab to go-

to westminster in the morning. basically you had a stroke almost? a stalker almost? he lived five minutes away from me. - that we get you had a stalker. in the end my staff had sectioned. - i think all mps feel a bit - vulnerable after it happened. when you get this mass - of online stuff written letters and so on with the threats behind it, might staff- insist on taking taxis - from westminster, they don't want me on public transport. not so there's no more pictures of you with a gin in a tin? that as well! but i think it's not safe. and how should or does this change? it's about societal change, isn't it? many people will say that over the last generation they have been big improvements as far

as the whole questions around gender and race are concerned. just to interrupt, do you not get any public transport at all now? i do, but if it was down to my staff, i wouldn't get any! - but i do come into westminster and go home in a cab _ but at the weekend when i'm in hackney, i can't— resist getting on the bus - because i don't drive and i've always used public transport... but if you are doing mp's business, you take a taxi because you don't feel safe? yes, my staff don't think i'm safe and they do give - a bit of finger wagging when they hear i've i been on a bus! how does it change? i remember when it did change. when i first became an mp, j if you want to dissent abuse to an mp, you had to write i a letter, put in an envelope, put a stamp on it and post it. excellent mining!

the people who don't know how to send letters! the non—sticky stamps! and you had to worry that possibly because you'd i physically sent a letter people could trace who you are - but when online became think you just press a button - and you can use notjust one mp put a whole load. - lovely to have you back. there was an important ruling at the supreme court about whether the scottish government has the power to call an advisory referendum on scottish independence next year. quite a simple answer, no. you can hear all about the background and impatient on wednesday's newscast which is available on bbc sounds and we can talk more about it now with douglas ross it was the leader of the conservative party in scotland. hello. hello, how are you? you are also famous as a football referee so we can ask you some world cup questions later! but in the world cup whether scotland gets to be an independent nation, we are just in the heats of that, does it mean there's basically no way scotland can ever leave the union

without the permission of the government in westminster? is that what this ruling fundamentally means? i think what the supreme court ruling shows is a very clear, unanimous outcome of that case, the five justices all agreed that the constitution is reserved to the uk parliament. that was always my view i think the view of the vast majority of legal experts, political experts and others i'm just a bit disappointed that nicola sturgeon took this to court, dragged both of scotland's government into the courtroom to debate this at the cost of cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money when i think most of us knew this was the outcome and the result. but sadly, immediately after, although she said she respect the outcome if the court, she is now looking at how she can yet again circumvent that by making the next general election a de facto referendum for the snp and i think that is wrong as well because it's not for politicians to dictate to the public what they should be focused on or interested

in in an election campaign. on that specific point that adam put to you, can you take that on directly? the fundamental truth of the heart of what you're saying and what the supreme court was saying was that, yes, the power is preserved and lies with westminster but that means that for as long as westminster only political complexion says no, it doesn't matter what scottish voters say in any kind of election on the whole question of independence because it won't happen, and hence the argument from the first minister that this is about democracy and the sense, as she sees it, of a democracy denied. i think democracy is respecting the outcome of referendums and it isjust eight short years ago we had a very long campaign in scotland to decide if scotland should remain part of the uk or be separated. and the people of scotland by a significant majority voted to remain. we were told at the time it

would be respected by both sides, that they would follow the outcome of that referendum and adhere to it. since then, nicola sturgeon and the nationalists have never accepted that result and have always tried to have another referendum. we mentioned nicola sturgeon a few times, we can listen to her in the scottish parliament and on the internet this clip is called nicola sturgeon ridicules douglas ross! let me just reflect on the last few weeks on the life - of douglas ross, leave it for now of the scottish . conservative party. he called in borisjohnson. to resign then you turn then called on borisjohnsonl to resign again and then you turned again, he demanded that i follow the mini budget, . then upload the liz truss - for scrapping the mini budget, he voted for fracking . in england, now i think he welcomes the fact - that the tracking ban has been reinstated in england. just last week or the week i before he said that liz truss

would win the next general election and days later- he welcomed the resignation of liz truss point of he backs rishi sunak who knows what douglas ross's. permission will be at this time next week?! - did nicola sturgeon get anything wrong in that list? look, that was an answer to a question i posed about the nhs in scotland, but people waiting hours and sometimes days for an ambulance to take them to a&e to sit outside and not get a bed in a&e and a number of e—mails i had from people about that saying, fine, nicholas vision mixer political point, she had that scripted by her spin doctors of which we have record numbers in scotland but she couldn't even be bothered to answer the question about the health service point that she would rather make cheap political attacks on opponent rather than get to the bottom of the issues that are

affecting people day in, day out right across scotland in the health service that is fully devolved and fully under the remit of nicola sturgeon. and of course rishi sunak would never respond to a question from keir starmer by saying that you supported jeremy corbyn a few years ago. everyone does that point more often than not when i have listened to the prime minister, he tries to at least answer the substantive question put it nicola sturgeon simply does not. let's talk about your other life outside politics and are famous having been a referee although it is interesting because of you in action were when you are a linesman so i don't want people complaining... when you are watching the world cup, are you watching the football or secretly watching the refereeing? there is no secret at all that i'm only watching the referees and there were some expletives in my office here the other day when the commentator was criticising the assistant referee, which is the correct terminology for a late flight but actually the timing with outstanding. there was a playerjust offside over the halfway line,

a clear opportunity to score, he didn't score and immediately the assistant referee put up the flag i thought it was great officiating and awful commentary i made that clear to the whole floor here at holyrood. that the whistle being blown because i think we are more than half time in this episode but thank you very much. good tojoin you. katya's back. you have been on quite a dramatic deployment at sea, tell us all about it. i had two see deployments which was great under my grandfather was in the merchant navy so that he was in his background and i love this. he ran away to sea when he was 16 with his dog! i didn't have a dog or anything but i did go to the baltic sea and the north sea and the reason we went to the baltic sea is you may rememberat the end of september there were those

three explosions on two major gas pipelines which run between russia and europe and the gas pipelines were not in use at the time at act which has widely been called sabotage, there is a real whodunnit about it. western countries suspect russia, russia says it is the us, specifically laying the blame on the royal navy. the royal navy response was your only saying that because you're trying to deflect from your military failings. not much is known about the site because it has happened near the territorial waters of sweden and denmark, the pipeline makes landfall in germany so all those countries are doing their own investigation put at the russians have been carrying out their investigation as well but they have not been sharing much of the intelligence and there are loads of conspiracy theories because there are those who say it wasn't russia and it is the west blaming them so we went to have a look for ourselves and send out some

underwater drones ponder afterwards we went into the north sea with the norwegian navy because we are looking to doorway these days is the main supplier of natural gas. and europe as a whole is looking to norway very much since it has been weaning itself off russian energy. norway is trying to patrol all that underwater infrastructure and all those pipelines but something else, all of the data cables that keep us all connected together and also trillions of pounds worth of financial transactions are carried out using those cables each day and all of a sudden it seems that nato has woken up and gone, well, they are pretty vulnerable so we better do something. thank you so much for all your derring—do and for coming back onto newscast. have you seen this, adam, that the newscast have found, took about eight forever, this is a tie this week cake tin. andrew, diane and michael. there we are.

thursday eveniong vintage tv before the newscast era. i wonder if there is a cake in the. might mouth is watering so much for this cake so let's die then. the 700th episode of new cast. thank you for watching and listening, we'll talk again soon. —— let's dive in. hello. it's already been an exceptionally wet month, some places breaking record. but again, nearly an inch of rain fell in some parts on thursday along with some really gusty winds. aberdaron on the llyn peninsula, nearly 80 mile an hour, those gusts of wind.

even in bridlington, 67 miles an hour. the gusts on this particular weather front, which we call a squally weather front, those winds very squally with the rain pushing through. lots of showers, though, have been following on behind to northern and western areas through the night. still gale force winds here, butjust a little chilly where the winds have eased a little and the shower activity has as we head towards dawn. for the day ahead, it looks drier, brighter, plenty more sunshine than we saw on thursday, but still lots of showers, particularly in the north and west and particularly of scotland, with gales across the northern and western isles, across the highlands as well. still with hail and thunder here and some snow over the hills and mountains, but fewer showers, less heavy elsewhere. 12 to 1a, slightly less windy, so feeling more pleasant out and about. but then through saturday night, it turns quite chilly. we could see a touch of frost, a little bit of patchy mist and fog as well. and further north and west, yes, more rain to come as we head into the weekend. now, it looks as if it'll be initially, for western and northern areas, with the ridge of high pressure holding on in eastern areas

for the start of saturday. so the rain may not arrive here until after dark for east anglia and the south—east. but for most, it'll be cloudier with some hill fog, strong winds again returning, potentially gales in southern and western areas. heavy rain here as well. these are the gusts of wind, as you can see, through the day on saturday. so another blustery old day, but mild. temperatures about 12 to 11! celsius. even in the north, 11 and 12, so well above where they should be for this time of year. and a mild night will follow because that rain will push steadily eastwards but become slow—moving, potentially, we think, across southern and eastern areas. and that's the question mark, really, for the weekend, how quickly that rain clears away. it could stagnate in the south and east for a time and then showers follow on behind. once again, it will be another relatively mild day. not quite as for saturday, but still 11 to 13 celsius. and we keep a showery picture as we move into the beginning of the new week. but midweek onwards, potentially something a little drier but colder. stay tuned.

welcome to bbc news — i'm david eades. our top stories. mounting pressure on iran as the un human rights council votes for an international investigation into the violent suppression of protests in the country. as ukraine works to restore power supplies — the first lady tells the bbc her country will battle on. at times it is extremely hard, but then we find new emotions which help us to keep going. nurses in parts of the uk are the latest to announce strike action as the country has one of its biggest days of labour unrest. portugal's cristiano ronaldo becomes the first man to score at five world cups and we look ahead to friday's matches as — england take on the usa and wales face iran.

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