this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm kasia madera. our top stories: the uk conservative party chairman nadhim zahawi says an error in his tax affairs was accepted by aurthorities as having been "careless and not deliberate". president zelensky says he'll keep asking western allies to send modern tanks to ukraine, after a meeting of more than 50 countries ended without agreement. translation: we will still have to fight - for the supply of modern tanks. but every day we make it more obvious — there is no alternative to making the decision on tanks. and protests take place at one of the uk's biggest national parks, in the form of a mass camp out.

hello, welcome. we start in the uk. the chair of the conservative party, nadim zahawi, has confirmed that he made a payment to the tax office to settle a disagreement about his tax affairs. mr zahawi said hmrc accepted that an error concerning shares he gave to his father — for help in setting up the polling company yougov in 2000 — had been careless and not deliberate. it comes after newspaper reports that he'd paid a seven—figure sum and been subject to a penalty. it's understood the dispute over mr zahawi's taxes was resolved while he was serving as chancellor of the exchequer.

earlier, labour had called on nadhim zahawi to resign. here's our political correspondent helen catt. nadhim zahawi is a seniorfigure in the government, the chairman of the conservative party, who sits in the cabinet. last year, he was — for a few months — borisjohnson�*s chancellor, in charge of the country's finances. is the hmrc still after you, sir? but since then, he's faced questions about his own financial affairs and claims he tried to avoid tax. over the summer, he dismissed claims that hmrc was investigating him as inaccurate smears. this morning, a cabinet colleague defended him. i don't know about nadhim's personal tax affairs — i wouldn't know personally, they're private to him — but he's been very clear that he's paid all his tax due in the uk, that his tax accounts are up—to—date and, of course, he's engaged with hmrc, so that's the position and i think he has been very transparent about this. if he needs to answer any further questions, i'm sure he'll do so. mr zahawi has now confirmed he did pay money to settle

a disagreement with hmrc. he said it related to shares in the polling company yougov, which he set up in 2000. he said his dad gave him money to do it and got some shares in return as a founder. in a statement issued this afternoon, mr zahawi said that hmrc had... ..and that he had chosen to... he said hmrc had concluded this was a... labour says there are still things he needs to explain, and earlier the shadow chancellor was scathing. when the prime minister came into office, he said that he would run a government that would have honesty, integrity and professionalism at its heart. none of those three things are happening today. mr zahawi said the matter was resolved and all his tax affairs were up—to—date when prime minister rishi sunak appointed him as the party chairman.

anything you want to say, mr zahawi? he has now given some explanation. the question will be if it's enough. so, there is no obligation on politicians to make their tax affairs public, but by allowing this to drag on — with questions for several days — it has been damaging for the government. it's put the focus on the complicated tax affairs of a wealthy minister at a time when many people are struggling with the cost of living. and it's been a distraction for the government when it's trying to get its own messages out. now, mr zahawi has given some explanation now about what happened, but there are things which remain unclear — most notably, the timeline, when this was paid, and, crucially, what stage it was at when mr zahawi was the chancellor and in charge of the country's finances. helen catt with the latest on that. let's talk to rebecca benneyworth, who joins us from gloucestershire. she's a chartered accountant and lectures and writes on tax issues. welcome. you also advise the hmrc,

the uk's tax authority. also a former chair of the tax faculty at the university of chartered accountants. help us understand when the hmrc, when they have concerns when they start an investigation, what triggers them to do that? hmrc has not a what triggers them to do that? hmrc has got a very. _ what triggers them to do that? hmrc has got a very. very _ what triggers them to do that? hiw’iifliii has got a very, very sophisticated computer system which goes off and gets data from all sorts of places, and marries that data up and spots anomalies that they are concerned about. but in fact, what we are led to believe in mr zahawi's case is that that was not how all this started. the suggestion is that mr zahawi went to hmrc, once he realised that there was a problem with his tax, and came forward, and the rate of penalty and some of the information that is in the public

domain suggests that that is true. so he actually went to hmrc, approach them, and said, look, there is a problem, i need to come clean, i need to tell you all about it. when you say the rate of penalty, just explain, help us to understand in that case, would it have been potentially higher penalty? we cannot verify the exact figures, but the guardian is reporting it was a penalty of 30%. the guardian is reporting it was a penalty of 3096-— the guardian is reporting it was a penalty of 3096. yes, that report is consistent with _ penalty of 3096. yes, that report is consistent with what _ penalty of 3096. yes, that report is consistent with what mr _ penalty of 3096. yes, that report is consistent with what mr zahawi - penalty of 3096. yes, that report is | consistent with what mr zahawi said in his statement this afternoon, that hmrc had agreed that his behaviour was careless and not deliberate. what the penalty legislation does, once you have added tax inquiry or you have come forward and said, oh, dear, i've got a problem, right at the end of it, hmrc to go into a sort of a bit of a look and see the more you careless in underpaying your tax, so how the

legislation works a straightforward —— were you careless? you sent a document to h mercy which was inaccurate, as a result of that, you've underpaid your tax. the legislation then says, we need to look at how this happened. were you careless? was it deliberate? did you sendin careless? was it deliberate? did you send in a delivery incorrect tax return? 0r equals still, did you deliberately misstate your tax and then try and cover it up afterwards? those are the kind of levels of penalties, and obviously a much, much higher penalty for deliberate and what they call concealed. careless is what has been agreed. if it was just simply to do with the uk, the maximum penalty, then, is 30%, and then you get a reduction, the law says, for what they call disclosure. that involves you coming forward or maybe hmrc asking you about it and you put your hands up, and also how you work with hmrc while you are actually sorting all

of it out. did you give them all the information they needed? did you let them see all of your information so that you could arrive at the right time? the and slight difference here with mr zahawi is that the yougov shares, if that is what he is paying this capital gains tax in relation to, they were in an offshore structure in gibraltar. when the inaccuracy relates to something that happened offshore, the penalty legislation is a little more aggressive. it says, we don't like this at all. so the starting point goes up to 45%. gibraltar is what is called a category two territory, so it is the middle range of penalties, so it starts off at 45%. if you come forward without being asked about it, then you can reduce that penalty. the minimum you're getting it down to his 22.5%, so if our

analysis is right, and i think this sort of seems to stack up with what is in the public domain, he did come forward voluntarily because the penalty for what they call prompted disclosure, after hmrc have said, hang on a minute, what is going on here, that is much higher, so it is likely he came forward voluntarily, he was moderately cooperative, not 100% cooperative. 0therwise he was moderately cooperative, not 100% cooperative. otherwise the penalty would have been 22.5%, the minimum level. so it is slightly less than overly enthusiastic to get hmrc sorted and get the whole thing resolved, but they have got a good reduction, so whoever was negotiating for him and dealing with hmrc, they have come outwith, given the circumstances, i think a lot of people are commenting today, not a bad outcome, in penalty terms, at 30%. bad outcome, in penalty terms, at 3096. , . . ., bad outcome, in penalty terms, at 3096. ,~ , ., a,

bad outcome, in penalty terms, at 3096. ,~ _, a, a, , 3096. rebecca benneyworth, a adviser to hmrc, 3096. rebecca benneyworth, a adviser to hmrc. really— 3096. rebecca benneyworth, a adviser to hmrc, really fascinating _ 3096. rebecca benneyworth, a adviser to hmrc, really fascinating to - to hmrc, really fascinating to get that level of inside. thank you for talking us through it. much more on our website, and just to be added, the prime minister is satisfied and confident in nadhim zahawi as the conservative party leader. nadhim zahawi not the only one who has had the spotlight on him. a senior labour mp has accused the prime minister of failing to deliver the integrity and professionalism he promised, after he was fined for not wearing a seat—belt. sir chris bryant, who chairs the commons standards committtee, said rishi sunak had shown a "pattern of misjudgement". lancashire police issued a fixed penalty notice after mr sunak posted a video shot in the back—seat of a car. let's turn to ukraine. president zelensky and

the first lady have been taking part in a memorial in kyiv for interior minister denys monastyrsky and 13 other people killed following a helicopter crash. the accident happened earlier this week in a suburb of kyiv and set a kindergarten on fire. meanwhile, president zelensky says he'll keep asking western allies to send modern tanks to ukraine, after a meeting of allied nations in germany ended without an agreement to provide them. protests have taken place in berlin to demand the approval of german—made tanks to be sent to kyiv. aru na iyengar reports. this is what kyiv wants but can't yet have — german—made leopard 2 tanks as part of hopes for hundreds of western battle tanks to help defend their country and take back their land. ukraine says modern tanks are key to holding back russia's expansion plans. translation: the partners are firm in their attitude. i they will support ukraine as much

as necessary for our victory. yes, we will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious — there is no alternative to making the decision on tanks. president zelensky has made his appeal to this meeting of defence chiefs at ramstein airbase. poland has agreed to train ukrainian soldiers in using the leopard 2s, but berlin gets to decide where the leopard tanks are deployed. the us is also under pressure to make its abrams tanks available to ukrainian forces. it has not said yes yet, but is offering other support. until putin ends this war, his war of choice, the nations of this contact group will continue to support the defence of ukraine in order to uphold the rules—based international order. domestic politics, its past, and a fear of escalating the conflict all play into germany's caution. but this meeting was about more than just tanks, with much wider pledges of military aid

and an air of urgency. front—line ukrainian units are using soviet—era tanks — they need modern equipment. they expect a spring offensive from russia and bigger battles to come. the bbc ukrainian reporter 0lga malchevska said that germany's decision is reported in the ukrainian media with frustration and surprise. i spoke to 0lga earlier. but we started with the helicopter crash victims' funerals. the funeral is taking part in different parts of kyiv region, and the memorial service is also in different parts of kyiv region. we saw president zelensky and his wife and many other officialsjoining regular people, regular citizens, in the capital kyiv, where there was an official ceremony. what is interesting, there was a huge queue of people

just bringing flowers, according to ukrainian media. there was almost half a kilometre queue, although this country, you might think are getting used to funerals and death, quite regular because of the russian war, but lots of people were coming there on saturday morning to actually say goodbye to those people. it says something about those officials and about the place this tragedy took in the hearts of ukrainians. the circumstances and not least there was a nursery was part of this. so many children were killed. yes, it is quite interesting, how the local community was reacting. we were getting reports of how the childcare staff were trying to help those children, to evacuate them, literally dragging the children out of the windows. according to the stories reported to the journalists. some teenage guys were

trying to help them. i saw them telling the reporters how they were trying to get the children through the windows... they winced to the primary school. they were trying to get those children through the windows, and the staff of the kindergarten was also trying to do that, and as far as we know, at least one person from the staff, one of the teachers, she died. 25 people are injured, including 11 children who are now in hospital, some was quite difficult conditions. just the tragedy of the circumstances, really, really difficult. we saw president zelensky there today. zelensky making an appealjust yesterday to the international community for tanks. germany not moving on that at the moment. just explain to us, 0lga, the frustration there must be across ukraine in terms of that lack of decision. it's quite interesting, because ukrainian media, when they were reporting about that ramstein meeting, they were almost certain

that the tanks would be approved, and all the attitudes in the ukrainian media, in the country, was that the tanks would be given. it came as quite a surprise to the ukrainian people it was not approved. there was a feeling among the journalists, especially the ukrainian journalists, that there was quite a tough discussion happening before that, and the ukrainian community, the journalists saying that, yes, they are frustrated, but they do have a hope that the decision would be reconsidered. 0lga malchevska. the chief executive of nhs england says the ongoing industrial action is making workloads more challenging. amanda pritchard says the ongoing industrial action is clearly having an impact but that all sides want to try and reach a solution. nurses in england and ambulance staff in england, wales and northern ireland are planning more strike days in february and march.

meanwhile, a bbc investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of calls made to nhs mental health helplines in england are going unanswered. the crisis phone lines — which are supposed to be available 2a hours a day — are designed to provide support for those who are suicidal, or in emotional distress. 0ur reporter adam eley spoke to hannah, who says it took her two days to get through. for me to call, it is because i am at my absolute lowest and i am about to do something. for years, hannah has struggled with her mental health, at times wanting to take her own life. in these moments, she called her nhs trust's 24—hour helpline for urgent mental health support. but too often, she says, no—one picked up. i have literally been crying my eyes out and left a message on the answerphone and no—one has ever got back to me. it makes it ten times worse. i know for me, i start to spiral. when she has been able to get through, hannah says support can be limited. on one occasion, she told a staff member she no longer wanted to live.

she actually said to me, "think happy thoughts and read a book." when i said that is not going to help, that is when she hung up and said, "you don't want to help yourself." i ended up going to a&e. south london and maudsley nhs trust has since apologised, adding that improvements have been made. nhs crisis lines in england receive more than 200,000 calls a month, aiming to signpost people to services and provide urgent phone support. but figures obtained by the bbc show at least a18,000 calls went unanswered in 2021—22. two recent coroner's reports have highlighted issues with crisis lines that preceded deaths, noting the demands on staff. it was a very exhausting job emotionally, it was impossible to answer all the calls. 0ne former staff member says she felt overwhelmed and was not properly trained. i didn't feel prepared. you are expected to learn on the job, which is disappointing when the risk is so high and you are dealing with people's lives.

experts say crisis lines can play a vital role, if they are able to meet demand. the point of them is to make the system really accessible, to make it easy not to go to a&e. and if that's not what is happening, then that's obviously a major problem. nhs england said it had made £7 million available to local areas to improve their crisis lines. for hannah, if crisis lines are to improve, staff must have the time to speak to patients with compassion. you shouldn't have to be at absolute rock bottom to get decent care and to be spoken to like an actual human being. adam eley, bbc news. the uk steel industry, which supports tens of thousands ofjobs, is close to collapse, according to the union unite. it's written to the business secretary grant shapps, seeking an urgent meeting to push for more government support. our business correspondent

marc ashdown is here. just update us, talk us through this. . , , ., , just update us, talk us through this. . , , . , , ., , this. yeah, this is a very strongly worded letter, _ this. yeah, this is a very strongly worded letter, giving _ this. yeah, this is a very strongly worded letter, giving a _ this. yeah, this is a very strongly worded letter, giving a stark - worded letter, giving a stark warning. it comes from the assistant general secretary of unite and he is at the top table. he writes that the uk steel industry is a breaking point, as he lists it. he lists how major firms face big point, as he lists it. he lists how majorfirms face big challenges, crippling energy costs, lower demand for steel and more competition from cheaperforeign imports. he writes this letter on behalf of two other unions, and what is interesting is he directly blames government policies. he says they significant the undermined the ability of uk firms to compete globally. we are, in the words of many, a whisker away from collapse, he concludes, and he has asked this urgent meeting with grant shapps, the business secretary, to discuss the current and future government policy to try and future government policy to try and support this sector going forward. ,, ., , .,

forward. strongly worded, as you sa . have forward. strongly worded, as you say- have we _ forward. strongly worded, as you say. have we had _ forward. strongly worded, as you say. have we had any _ forward. strongly worded, as you say. have we had any reaction i forward. strongly worded, as you say. have we had any reaction soj say. have we had any reaction so far? , , , , , far? the business department, they have not given _ far? the business department, they have not given any _ far? the business department, they have not given any word _ far? the business department, they have not given any word on - far? the business department, they have not given any word on any - have not given any word on any possible meetings with grant shapps and the unions. they do, though, say they recognise the vital role played in the community. they say grant shapps considers it all in priority and once extendable way forward for uk steel. what is outlined in this letter is nothing new. many of these have been problems highlighted for many, many years, but it has been a pretty hot topic for the government, and it is a tricky one. it generates tens of thousands ofjobs but it also generates carbon emissions, so we are picking up any strong hints that a solution but have to see the sector become much greener. we reported yesterday the chancellor jerry moniz weighing up a £300 billion support package for british steel. we now understand a similar deal of a similar amount could be brokered for tartar steel. it seems both firms, and don't forget there but foreign owned, by the chinese

and indian companies, we need to provide assurances by uk jobs and also assurances on plans to invest in greener, cleaner technologies. marc, thank you for bringing that to our attention. marc, thank you for bringing that to ourattention. 0ur marc, thank you for bringing that to our attention. our business correspondent marc ashdown. i want to bring you live images coming to the bbc from israel. thousands of anti—government protesters are gathering in tel aviv, expected to be one of israel's biggest demonstrations in years. protestors are angry over prime minister benjamin netanyahu's plans to limit the powers of the judiciary. critics claim the government's "judicial override" policy — which would also give it powers to appointjudges — could destroy democracy in israel. around 100,000 people are expected to gather over the next few hours, with other smaller demonstration in haifa,

jerusalem and other cities. so, just focusing in on that more than 1000 police have been deployed and some key roads have been closed while these demonstrations, protests, or taking place across israel. hundreds of people have been protesting for the right to wild camp in dartmoor national park — in the south—west of england. last week, the uk's high court ruled that the permission of landowners was required before camping on dartmoor. the national park's authority has now struck a deal to pay landowners to allow wild camping in some areas. claire marshall explains. this is a battle bus rolling into the village square. we're here today to summon up

the spirit, to defend dartmoor and its wild camping rights. the organisers of this rally, the right to roam, say they are at war for the right to sleep under the stars. let's go and summon up the spirits of dartmoor. cheering how do you feel about the level of support? it's amazing. amazing to see so many people come out together, to show that this is a huge issue for people. it feels like it's a real visceral feeling of, like, "this is something we really care about." they marched towards the southern slopes of the moor. 4,000 acres is owned by a hedge fund manager, alexander darwall. his legal action saw the high court rule there is no intrinsic right to wild camp on the moor, something that's been done for decades. i cut my football match to come here. did you? more important! it's more important than a football match? yeah! a lot of people here today spoken

to me about power and about how it's tipped away from the ability of people to camp out here on the moor, in favour of the few people who own this land. but there is a darker side — the damage that can be done by people camping out. cans, foil, condoms, syringes sometimes... russell ashford owns buckfastleigh common. he was born here. at the end of the day, it is a fantastic, big, open wild space, but it is a wild space, and we surely don't want to visit it so much that it's damaged through that. a deal has been done — land owners will be paid and people can wild camp. the area is smaller, though, and the right can be revoked at any time. what everyone has in common is the desire for humans to leave no trace and to preserve the dwindling wild spaces of england. claire marshall, bbc news on dartmoor. from me and the team here on bbc

news, thanks for watching. bye—bye. hello there. it's been cold again today across england and wales, even if you did have the sunshine. some areas, though, it's been a real struggle with this mist and fog — across parts of northern england, east wales, the west midlands and the west country. towards the north—west of the uk, things are looking very different. we're getting atlantic air and a lot of cloud coming in, bringing in some milder conditions. still going to be quite windy for scotland and northern ireland into the night. some more rain coming in from the atlantic as well. some of that cloud just could edge into western—most parts of england and wales. but on the whole, we've got clearer skies. that's going to lead to some more fog, particularly across some eastern parts of england. it'll be dense, it'll be freezing as well. there'll be a widespread frost for england and wales. could be as low as —7.

bit chilly, i think, for south—east scotland. the rest of scotland, northern ireland should see temperatures above freezing. we've got milder atlantic air here, but that's really, really struggling to arrive across south—eastern parts of the uk, where we've got this blocking area of high pressure keeping it cold, but keeping us with some sunshine as well. there will be some fog around, then, as we move into tomorrow morning, especially for eastern england, only very slowly lifting. one or two patches could linger into the afternoon. western parts of england and into wales will see more clouds, slightly higher temperatures. we've got cloud for scotland and northern ireland, a bit of rain and drizzle from time to time. could get some sunshine, though, around the moray firth — temperatures making 10 degrees in western scotland and northern ireland. but across the midlands, eastern england, could be only 3 or 4 degrees — and if the fog does linger, it'll be even colder than that. the weather front in the north—west weakens as high pressure builds across it in time for monday, keeping it cold for much of england and wales. some morning fog across eastern parts of england, again slowly lifting. some sunshine.

we've still got cloudier skies across western parts of england and wales, and more especially in scotland and northern ireland, where it's still mild — temperatures again 9 or 10 degrees. but quite a contrast across the uk. we're still in that colder, generally sunny air through the midlands, towards the south—east and east anglia. we have to see this weather front actually coming in from the northwest to give us more of a definite change around the middle part of the week. but tuesday still looks cold across south—eastern areas, some sunshine and some fog. it's not until wednesday we see milder air pushing down across the whole of the country. and with that milder air, looks like there's going to be a lot of cloud.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the chair of the conservative party nadim zahawi has confirmed that he made a payment to the tax office to settle a disagreement about his tax affairs. it's understood the dispute over mr zahawi's taxes was resolved while he was serving as chancellor of the exchequer. president zelensky says he'll keep asking western allies to send modern tanks to ukraine, after a meeting of more than 50 countries ended without agreement. hundreds of people have been protesting for the right to wild camp in dartmoor national park in the uk. last week the uk's high court ruled that the permission of landowners was required before camping on dartmoor. millions of people around the world

are preparing for the start of the lunar new year.