you are watching bbc news. now, it's newscast. hello, it's adam in the studio. and chris in the studio. and we will be joined by various people from various places, although one of them is mayor of manchester, andy burnham, who, spoiler alert, will be in manchester. former conservative mp justine greening, who did almost everyjob while she was there, will be, yes, in the studio. i don't know about you, but i love reading a bank of england monetary policy report. they meet every so often and make decisions about interest rates, and today they put them up again by not .5%, in the last time they were there was, what, the middle

of the financial crisis, 2008—ish? yes. and they have said they will stay about that level for quite a while, so the idea that interest rates are here to stay is here to stay. and the big picture message is not great, it's pretty bleak, but they are kind of saying things might not be as bad as had been predicted. yes, that's where the graphs come in. we will now try and paint graphs with words, but they looked at inflation, which they do in all these reports and actually, they are now suggesting that inflation will fall faster than they predicted when they lasted this back in november. politically, that helps rishi sunak, showing his first pledge of halving inflation by the end of the year is comfortably going to be met on this trajectory. yes, and voters and lots of people will say hurrah to that. as far as the politics is concerned, there will be, as there was when he announced this, a slight scepticism about the extent to which he is actually responsible for that.

it is questionable, though chancellorjeremy hunt made the point in the context of the strikes that maintaining, ensuring wages are not contributing too much to inflation is important. of course, you could move quite a bit from a government perspective on the payment of those who are striking without it being inflation busting. and the other graph from the bank of england today is about the coming recession, which they say will be shallower and shorter than they were hoping for, and again, that means rishi sunak will probably meet his second pledge, that the economy will be growing again by the end of the year. though i dojust wonder, the economy still looks pretty stagnant and flat in the next year, and that has its own problems. slightly different from the economy shrinking, but still doesn't mean you can then do loads? quite, and you look at the predictions ahead, as far as the economy is concerned, and looking at the graphs today from the bank of england, you get to 2026 before the economy is back to where it was before the pandemic, sojust that

sense of flat lining, no sense of economic growth, and what that means, obviously, for businesses, households, the tax take. so even though some of this stuff isn't as bleak as others have predicted, or indeed has been predicted in the past, yes, it is still pretty grim, really. let's talk about some of the stuff that our first guest on this episode, former conservative mp justine greening. hello. hello, adam, how are you? i havejust been making my list of all the jobs you did in government. former education secretary, former minister for women and equalities, international development secretary, transport secretary, and economic secretary to the treasury. i know, quite a lot! literally everything that is happening in the country right now! a great mix, because i got to do treasury, domestic domestic briefs and an international brief, so i really saw government from every side, apart from being in the whips. other than that, yes. and when you look now, having done

that range of governmentjobs, and governing is always difficult in any circumstances, but perhaps particularly at the moment, for all the reasons that newscasters will be familiar with, do you envy the people who are there or do you fear for them? this is a tough time to be delivering government, basically, isn't it? yes, i think it's always difficult. back in 2010 when we had had the big financial crisis, we were that far away from the kind of crisis we had last october, had we not got our finances into shape. i think there are always challenges, and the thing i learned from all of that was, you just have to be so laser focused on what your priorities are, because there will always be headwinds that are trying to blow you off course, and when you don't know where you are going in the first place, you are absolutely stuffed. what you think about rishi sunak�*s five priorities?

according to the bank of england, the first two will be easily met. inflation will plunge, and the recession will be shorter than people thought. it that good to have those as your top two priorities if they are, quote unquote, easy? he has got his five priorities, i think they are clear, and people can form a view on whether they are ambitious enough. i think the challenge and the key thing is actually... the priority that people set this government was levelling up, and it won a landslide back in 2019 on, actually, a very clear mandate. one was getting brexit done, and people will obviously form a view on whether they feel that has happened by the next election. but the second was levelling up, and yes, there are these headwinds, whether it is the boats, whether it is the challenge on the economy that crop up in the meantime, but fundamentally, this issue of levelling up is the one that this government will absolutely have to have some really good answers on for the electorate come election day.

and you are suggesting that they don't yet? i think that the more that they are distracted by what are inevitably difficult challenges, the challenges we have seen around various people in the cabinet, nadhim zahawi having to resign, or the issues and the inquiry around dominic raab, the more distracted people feel they are from the levelling up agenda, the harder it will be for them to make genuine progress on it, because i know from my time in government, these things do take up your time. is it not too late, though? the next election will probably be in two years, and in whitehall time that is a nanosecond when you are making a big change! well, yes and no. it is remarkable how a five—year term of parliament runs away from you if you are not careful. particularly if you swap prime ministers every five minutes! particularly if you have three prime ministers during that time! but on the other hand,

there is the levelling up white paper, which set out 12 missions. so there is an architecture there for the government to get on with. you could do a queen's speech around how those will be delivered. not all of them will even need legislation. i remember i set out a social mobility strategy within the dfe. we didn't need to pass a bill. the education department. not everything needs a bill through parliament. the question is can you actually get on with delivering those 12 missions? this government set those out a year ago now. we saw the prime minister hurtling grounding than the other week, talking about levelling up. he went to morecambe, he went to gateshead, various others. you seem to be suggesting he is not doing enough or not doing enough quickly enough. is this because this is a borisjohnson project, and you think rishi sunak�*s heart really isn't in it? no, i think it isjust a complicated agenda no government has ever really managed to get to grips with and has lots of different elements to it. so for example, we do need to do much, much more on education. i have a huge amount of respect

for gillian keegan and i think she is actually a really good person in that role and understands, as i did, just how important education is for being able to get on in life. but i think, obviously, we have the strikes that are happening at the moment, children losing more time out of school. there is a real question in my mind about whether we have got the level of ambition we need to notjust catch up those gaps that opened up in covid, but to close the ones that were already there. and it's those sorts of things that really make the difference, i think, on levelling up, and of course, this wider agenda, which i work on day in, day out, to get employers engaged. this sense that even if you closed all of the gaps that opened up in the education system, if our labour market, our employers and businesses aren't open to that wider talent pool, we are still not really going to connect people up to opportunities in the way we would want to. a few things there, but i think the first neuron that has fired in my brain is when you talk about corporates.

the big corporate story today is shell making bumper profits, bigger than ever before, and everyone goes, "tax them more." if you are trying to get business to be more socially minded and literally invested in the social fabric of the country, but people are opening the newspapers and listening to the radio and thinking, "those fat cats!" i mean, what does that do to your mission? i think it underlines that we need to have a much more broad—based strategic relationship with business thanjust tax. the role that business plays in britain is far more thanjust the revenues that are contributed, but people haven't always seen that. and so for some of the companies i have been engaged with, you know, really going to different universities to take their graduates, you have got them pushing apprenticeships into social mobility courses, uk power networks, which people may or may not have heard of. you think, now we have got our apprenticeships and we are scaling them up, what can we do to make sure they go

into some of those communities where they will really make a difference ? so this sense that every single opportunity an employer has can change a life for the better. and have our employers really thought as carefully about how much they do as actually they could? and so i think a lot of businesses are starting to think about that. of course, in the energy sector, yes, there is a huge amount of investment going on. you look at, for example, what bp is doing in teesside. a massive opportunity to drive levelling up, but it is thinking much more clearly now about that then perhaps it ever would have done, looking at different universities, looking at apprenticeships and all of that. i actually think the big challenge for government is to keep up with it all in a way. education need to reflect that whatever employers are looking for is a much broader skill set and talent than just academics. but to what extent is our school system really focused on developing that broader skill set that they will want to get when they leave school?

that's what you want the theme to be in education, but at the moment, it is teachers not feeling they are paid enough and that they are overworked and the conditions they work in aren't great, and that they want to go on strike in historic, epoch—defining numbers. do you think the government has just marked up its relationship with the teaching profession? you were very proud when you left. you'd patched it up a little bit. i was trying to get on with everyone. i have never really been someone who was in politics that felt there was merit in not having a relationship when it was there. i certainly never wanted to be in a situation where i had a conflict with the unions simply because we hadn't understood one another, so i think having those discussions and talks is absolutely crucial. i think right now the priority is probably to at least create a process by which you could start to find a solution. you have the pay review board happening. that is probably a structured way in which you could, with some evidence, start to work

out this trade—off between essentially what the government is saying, which is affordability, and what the teachers are saying, which is, cost of living. let's cut to the quick. your hunch is that teachers should be paid more, given where inflation is? i think you can't buck the market, and therefore if you look at recruitment levels which have been persistently under what we need, if you look at retention levels, which are also a problem, and if you look at the fact that private sector pay is running ahead of public sector pay and the risk is that that problem gets even worse over time, it has to stay competitive. you are not setting pay in a vacuum. so that is a yes. well it isjust a fact, and the answer to whether it is a yes or no, that's why you have the pay review board. these are really difficult trade—offs to make for both ministers and i guess also unions about what is the right way to deal with this, but actually, it is a balance that needs to be struck, and sooner rather than later, because we don't want kids out of school any more. justine mentioned the allegations

of bullying against dominic raab and i am not sure what is happening, is it that there are more allegations or are we just learning more about the original allegations? i am just a bit confused. what we have got here is because we had the story about nadhim zahawi, the former conservative party chairman, him being sacked at the weekend, there has been a tilt in the new focus towards the other ongoing ticking time bomb in human resources sense for the government because this inquiry is led by a seniorjudge into dominic raab and allegations of bullying which we should emphasise he denies. and because the process is ongoing and evidence is being gathered by this kc, as we now call senior lawyers, very few people are willing to talk publicly but many are talking privately to journalists and others about their experiences working for — with dominic raab, some positive and some negative. that is what is generating quite a bit of attention. it could be a long way off before

we get this process concluding because the process of assembling the testimony and a report being written and it going to the prime minister could take some time, and i suspect much of it could be redacted, the old black marker pen could go through it before it sees the light of day. that is where we are. speaking to people, it looks like there are at least a couple of dozen of complaints from individuals that have gone in, some packaged as an individual complaint but involving more than one person. i'm not going to say anything on this because the last episode of newscast on a thursday night, we were talking about the ethics adviser reporting on nadhim zahawi, and you said everyone was hoping it would be quick, and i was saying these things take a long time... and at seven o'clock on a sunday morning! justine, what do you think about these allegations against dominic raab? as a former education secretary, bullying is like the worst thing! when you were talking about the human resources piece of it, i was going back to saying i was never a whip, but i used to say they were like the human

resources department, with the human bit taken out! but i think it's interesting because, in a weird way, what i am saying is there probably is not enough focus on that aspect of people in politics, and obviously it isjust another thing that this government does not need — a sort of slow drip, drip, drip of stories about people in cabinet and whether they are fit to be in those roles. and i am like everyone else, i don't really know the ins and outs of the dominic raab affair and what has gone on and i do feel like the inquiry is taking a long time, and the longer it takes, the worse it is. what should rishi sunak do? on the one the politically expedient thing might be to fire dominic raab because this is a problem and it would sort things out, irrespective of the allegations, and he denies them and you get it

away from the front pages but on the other hand, he and downing street made the argument that this is about due process and assembling what has happened and giving people who want to share their testimony with a lawyer, the chance to do that, and then we have a process arrive at a conclusion in the prime minister can make an informed decision rather than one based on people whispering things in the corridors of westminster. there are three ways, either you decide to fire the person because you think i know this is not acceptable to me. or they resign or they have due process. but in the sense, you have to take the decision at the beginning. and it is hard to start off on one of those tracks and then change. did the prime minister make the wrong decision at the beginning? i genuinely do not know with dominic raab because i don't know what the allegations are, if you like, and to what extent there is substance.

why in politics are the more of these things than any other workplace? or maybe we don't hear about them? because you virtually have to get all of them right and i remember ken clarke once saying to me something along the lines of, you get 95% right and you're doing rather well. that is a good impression, who else do you do? boris? i do boris johnson. no, no... would you like borisjohnson to maybe stop getting on planes and doing interviews in america and speeches about things and popping into kyiv? i think he just likes to, you know, he is going to see his fan club, really, and get some love back. i think that is what is going on with him. justine greening, thank you very much. lots there own levelling up, the signature policy of the government but that is the bread—and—butter of,

i don't know, the mayor of a big city in the north—west, like greater manchester, like andy burnham, who is here, well, in manchester. hello! we have not caught up for a while so nice to speak to you. i was talking to len mccluskey on the last episode and he was saying that keir starmer needs to do more to be on the side of ordinary people and maybe some of his support for striking workers has been rather lukewarm lately. what is your take on that? anybody on the front bench in parliament has obviously got a different job to do than the likes of somebody like me. so i understand that but i think they are showing real support and that is good to see. i think that the issue is that you have labour saying sit down with people, listen to them, they're having real trouble with the cost of living crisis and these are the people we clapped for, the people we should support but on the other hand it

would feel as though the government are kind of seeking the sort of political confrontation with the unions for their own purposes. i don't know, it feels increasingly like there is a clear difference between the main parties and one side is trying to support people struggling on the other does not seem so. you talked about the desire, and we have heard this articulated by keir starmer, for the labour instinct to get people around the table. but what i struggle with when i speak to your colleagues here at westminster or labour of voices around the country is, the answer to the next question, then what? a labour government gets people around the table, striking workers, union representatives, and then what? is it your instinct that the striking workers demanding more pay should be paid more? even if it is less than inflation? some sort of increase on what they are currently offered? i have said that all the way through, a solution needs to be

found because we are in an exceptional year where inflation has been very high and you cannot leave people without support to manage that. the way i see it is this, for people whose job it is to keep other people safe, people who work in hospitals or who attend other people's homes if they have a fire or a crime, those people cannot be worrying about their own home when going out to work because that is simply not fair. how do you pay for that pay rise? you find a way, there are reserves in the nhs left over from the pandemic, i have talked about a one—off payment all the way through this to recognise the exceptional pressures of this year. but you also need to reward people properly so we do not end up paying a huge amount on the agency bill in the nhs and this is not me talking as though it is easy, a luxury thing for me to say, i had a situation where i am trying to find a solution for our firefighters and i think

they have had a raw deal, years of pay cuts so it is incumbent to help them. there was a thing last week called the convention of the north, which sounds like something from game of thrones, but it was a interesting set of workshops about devolution. michael gove did a speech which... we are not marching southjust yet, adam! we are giving you a little bit of time to come up with some better solutions. it was a great event. it was a positive event, i'm joking, the north is coming together across political and geographical lines and we are increasingly speaking with one voice and a positive voice but actually, it is getting noticed in whitehall and westminster because we have never done that before. and i think there is a new resolve you that people are not going to be as the always have been, where we just get treated like a second—class sort of group of people and we get told what to do and we have to get on with it.

that has come to an end, we will not have that any more and everybody is clear about that. we are now in a more confident and assertive position, ok, we want to play our part in bringing growth to all parts of the country but that means whitehall and westminster having to change the way you have always treated us. i want to ask about the battle of the djs, back in december, you and angela rayner defeating steve rotheram? the mayor of liverpool. how do you win some sort of dj off? by having better music! that's how. the eurovision capital, we are quite happy that it will bring visitors to the north—west but obviously it keeps our reputation as the home of cool music and we are comfortable with that here in greater manchester. these are two great musical powerhouse cities as well as being

footballing and sporting powerhouses and steve and myself like to celebrate our culture and everything we are about and it was a great night and the deputy leader of the labour party was undoubtedly the star of the show. are you gutted that eurovision did not go to manchester? i gave you the reasonjust now, we are cool music here in greater manchester! you know that! we don't do cheese, we'll leave that to others. i notice that beyonce is not coming to manchester on her world tour, cardiff, edinburgh, sunderland and london. as i said, cool music! i think you have just dissed beyonce! i don't think that this wise! talking music, you have a slot on bbc radio manchester where you have your artist of the month.

who was january? it is such a good thing to be in a city like ours where we have all of this talent coming through and we trade a little bit on past glories, to be honest. our musical past. i have launched this mayor's artist of the month and takes inspiration from the great tony wilson and you might remember often used his slot on the granada reports to promote bands so we are saying, hang on, isn't it time to promote the music of now? the first winners were announced last week, advised by the commission, the ktna, twins from blakely in manchester, born in kenya but doing r&b with a mancunian twine which is very fantastic and we are proud that they are the inaugural artist of the month. we have got a little clip, summer never dies by the ktna.

"summer never dies?" music plays in manchester, injanuary? summer never starts! the next one will be rain never stops! andy, thanks forjoining us and hopefully we will see you in person very soon. have you got your ticket to beyonce? no, after trying to get tickets for madonna i don't want to go through that process again because it is nerve—wracking. hanging on the phone and refreshing your web page. and quite expensive. thanks for listening to this bargain basement, very good value, almost as good as going to see beyonce or madonna in a stadium duetting. goodbye! newscast from the bbc.

hello. it's been quite a cloudy day for most of us today. but this weekend overall, it's actually not looking bad at all. saturday still a little overcast for most of us, but come sunday, i think the sun will be out, and it should feel quite pleasant. so here's the forecast, then — at the moment, this evening, mild air is still spreading across the uk, and will be in place across the country during the course of saturday. but after that, saturday night into sunday, a change in the wind direction, and we will see colder air establishing itself across the uk. now here's the cloud at the moment, or in the last few hours or so — you can see quite a uniform, thick sheet of cloud across the country, broken up here and there. and that's how it'll stay through the course of the evening and overnight.

so just a few clear spells here and there, and actually the cloud will be thick enough across some western areas to produce a little bit of light rain or drizzle. no frost this coming night, temperatures will range from around five celsius in lerwick, to about nine celsius in stornoway — and for most of us it'll be somewhere in between, so mild for the time of the year. here's saturday morning starts off pretty cloudy, but some glimmers of brightness already developing. notice that across northern ireland and scotland here, for a time, there will be some rain as this cold front moves in gradually from the northwest. temperatures will be around double figures, i think, right across the board. now, that rain won't last for very long — and in fact, as it makes itsjourney further south, it will mostly fizzle out by the time it reaches, say, the peak district, and also wales and the midlands. so the south of the country will not be getting rainfall tomorrow. now the big area of high pressure will stick around for a few days, it's also an intense area of high pressure — so strong, really anchoring itself across the uk, light winds.

we're right in the centre of that high pressure, and you can see the winds blowing around it. so here in the centre, with the light winds and sunny skies, it will actually feel quite pleasant. even though the temperatures are going to be a little bit lower — i think we're talking about eight celsius for most of us — it should feel fairly pleasant. now the high pressure isn't going away anywhere in a hurry — it does mean, though, that we could have some misty, foggy mornings into next week. and of course, with clear skies and light winds, that does mean a touch of frost first thing, as well, across many parts of the uk into next week.

this is bbc world news. i'm lukwesa burak. the top stories today. america's secretary of state postpones a visit to beijing after china claims a balloon flying over us airspace is for monitoring weather. european union leaders say "ukraine's future is inside the eu" — and reject russian aggression — at a summit in kyiv, hosted by president zelenskiy. we are not intimidated by criminals. because ukraine and the eu, we are family. police in the uk say they believe mother of two — nicola bulley — from lancashire — who's been missing for a week, fell into a river — whilst walking her dog. a warm welcome in south sudan for pope francis —

as he continues what's described as �*a pilgrimage for