tonight at ten... the government wants to house migrants in former military bases to cut a hotel bill of more than 6 million a day. it's all part of moves to deter tens of thousands of people crossing the channel in small boats. accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more, because we cannot risk becoming a magnet for the millions of people who are displaced and seeking better economic prospects. there's no point in blaming everyone else, because they are in charge. the asylum system is broken because they broke it. the former military bases are in lincolnshire and essex, and there's another site in east sussex. also tonight...

good evening! look at this t—shirt. .. "lil" — dead common!" tributes from the queen consort, among many others, to the entertainer, paul o'grady, who's died at the age, of 67. the scandal of one of police scotland's main control rooms using a dummy system to manipulate response times. and one of the biggest animals ever to walk the earth, the skeleton of a patagotitan dinosaur, soon to appear in london. and coming up in the sport on the bbc news channel: we'll have the best of the action from the women's champions league, as arsenal take on bayern munich and attempt to turn the tie around and book their place in the last four. good evening. the government has announced plans to house migrants

in two former military bases in essex and lincolnshire and at a separate site in east sussex in a bid to cut rising hotel bills. the immigration minister, robertjenrick, says the bases could hold several thousand people. the refugee council, warns the plans are "entirely unsuitable," but mrjenrick insists the use of military bases is in the national interest, with more than £6 million a day currently being spent on hotels. our political editor, chris mason, has our top story. this is where migrants could soon be living in essex, a former air force base, raf wethersfield, which the government wants to turn into accommodation for asylum seekers, with 1,700 people here eventually. the plan is big sites providing cheap, basic housing. we have to deliver them, to save the british public from spending eye—watering amounts accommodating illegal migrants. and we have to deliver them to prevent a pull factor

for economic migrants on the continent taking hold. in other words, stopping people coming to the uk by putting them up here rather than in a hotel. but this is what the local reaction looks like to something the government reckons is in the national interest. bluntly, plenty don't want migrants moving here. completely the wrong place — no facilities, rural. if they need any services, medical, dentistry, or emergency services, it's so rural that they can't possibly get those in any sort of timescale. and the local authority is trying to stop it at the high court. but the number of migrants arriving in small boats has rocketed. 51,000 asylum seekers are currently living in nearly 400 hotels, at a cost of more than £6 million a day.

the government has talked up the prospect of using ferries and barges to accommodate people, but there was no detail at all about this today. they are flailing around in a panic, chasing headlines, barges, oil rigs, rwanda flights, even wave machines, instead of doing the hard graft. they have lost control of our border security, lost control of the asylum system, lost control of their budget and of themselves. the liberal democrats say the biggest failure here is the colossal backlog of asylum claims yet to be processed. would he agree there is one thing worse than his government's incompetence on this issue, which is the blaming of the consequences of that incompetence on the most vulnerable people in the world? the issue of asylum seekers in general and small boat crossings in particular has made news for years. what is different now is the scale of it. the number crossing in boats has shot up massively. and this is such a difficult

issue to resolve. it takes in international relations with france, for instance, national politics here and then local rows. and, to provejust that, another proposed site, at this former raf base in lincolnshire, faces opposition too. the local authority here are also exploring all legal options to stop it. as you might remember, the prime minister has promised to stop the boats. at least part of what we are seeing at the moment is a consequence of his and the government's failure to do so, but there is a bigger, generational challenge. it's never been easier for poor people in poor countries, or those caught up in war or natural disasters or perhaps in future the effects of climate change, to see via the internet how

the richer world lives, and this poses a big set of questions for rich countries like the uk — how to address this politically, practically, logistically, financially and morally. and none of it is easy. chris mason, thank you. the queen consort has been among those paying tribute to the presenter and entertainer, paul 0'grady, who's died at the age of 67. his husband says he died "unexpectedly but peacefully" last night. sir eltonjohn thanked him for all the joy he brought into the world. 0ur entertainment correspondent, colin paterson, looks back at his life. good evening. look at this t—shirt — "lil" — dead common. the brilliance of paul 0'grady. he may have broken through with a radical, subversive drag act, but he ended up being trusted with such cosy institutions as blankety blank, an itv teatime show and a sunday afternoon slot on radio 2. and he was even loved by royalty. last year, the queen consort appeared on his programme for the love of dogs, in a special celebration

of the battersea dogs and cats home. today, she was one of the first to pay tribute, saying she was deeply saddened to hear of his death and he had provided lots of laughter and waggy—tailed memories. his death was a real shock, as he was on stage playing miss hannigan in annie as recently as saturday night in edinburgh. paul was born to either be on a stage, be behind a radio microphone, be on a camera. he was meant to entertain people and that's what he did right up until last saturday night. he was one of the cleverest people i've ever worked with. his brain for comedy was quite remarkable. there was only one paul 0'grady and there will only ever be one. this is where paul 0'grady grew up, holly grove in birkenhead on the wirral, and, in the centre of the town, people were still coming to terms with the news. i can't believe it. everyone around here... everyone in birkenhead has got something to say about how he'll be so missed.

he was down to earth, a man of the people and he just loved animals, didn't he? i think that's what it was. that battersea programme was amazing. he was a lovely, lovely man and he will be sadly missed. paul 0'grady was a care worker in london when he created his alter ego, the scouse powerhouse lily savage. he was still a prominent gay rights activist and inspired a whole new generation of drag queens. i remember watching paul 0'grady as a kid, and as a young gay boy to sit there and see something of yourself on television, it meant things were 0k and it meant i could dream to do that as well. it's a really sad day. he broadcast his final radio 2 show after 1a years last august and signed off in the manner which made him so loved by so many. you look after yourselves, yeah? stay safe and well. ta—ra, everyone. the entertainer, paul 0'grady, who's died at the age of 67.

scotland's new first minister, humza yousaf, has appointed his first cabinet after being formally sworn in. his top team of ten has six women, and he says he's sorry his former opponent for the leadership of the snp, kate forbes, isn't one of them. she declined his offer to become rural affairs secretary. here's our scotland editor, james cook. this is a warrant under his majesty's sign manual, appointing humza haroon yousaf to be first minister of the scottish government. humza yousaf, making history. do you swear that you will well and truly serve his majesty king charles in the office of first minister of the scottish government? will you now sign the parchments? he met his first test, a pen and parchment problem, with a wry smile. and then, it was official. scotland had a pioneering first minister — the only muslim, the only descendant of immigrants ever to hold the post.

how are you feeling? oh, really excited, and it's just such a proud moment for my family and for me. i'm delighted that i've got the ones that i love most with me. and, with that, he was whisked away to work, assembling his cabinet. with shona robison becoming deputy first minister and also taking over as finance secretary from a woman who was already home in the highlands. the glaring absence from this team photo is humza yousaf�*s leadership rival, kate forbes. the result of the contest shows that she has a lot of support among party members, though, and so the question for this new first minister is, can he reunite his party without her? kate is rightly popular and she's got some great ideas and exceptionally talented. i was sorry that she didn't feel she was able to continue in government, but she is still a member of this party. the first minister has put his faith in this team, with five cabinet members under the age of a0 and, for the first time, a majority of women.

yet more history in the making. james cook, bbc news, edinburgh. the vatican says pope francis has contracted a respiratory infection and will need to spend a few days in hospital in rome. he's 86 and has had breathing difficulties in recent days. the vatican says he doesn't have covid. this is the busiest time of the year for the pope, with many events and services scheduled ahead of the easter weekend. some victims of crime, particularly those who've been raped or sexually assaulted, have complained for years that they've felt let down by the police, prosecutors and the courts. now the government is promising new laws in england and wales, allowing victims to be kept informed of what's happening with their case, and if it's to be dropped so they can appeal. it's all part of the victims and prisoners bill, which will also give ministers the power to block parole boards releasing some prisoners. here's our special correspondent, lucy manning. what happens when you make

a rape allegation? jennifer — not her real name — has been re—traumatised by the police experience. this isn't her real voice, to protect anonymity. terrible. there's just no other way to describe it other than terrible, from start to where i'm at now. it's been incredibly slow. it's been incredibly stressful. i don't feel like i've been given the support i should have been as a victim. what was lacking from the police? emotional support is the biggest thing you expect. i was almost made to feel like the perpetrator of the situation, so less like the victim, more like i had committed the crime. mostly, it's the lack of updates and just the time delays with everything. the government say they want to improve things for victims. do you think these plans will work? i personally don't think it's going to make a difference. it's... it's coming from the right place but, if the police aren't willing to make a change, then it almost falls on deaf ears. the figures are stark.

only 1.6% of rape allegations end in a charge and, on average, rape victims are waiting nearly two and a half years from when they report a rape to the end of the case. he has served under five tory prime ministers... anger and accusations about the situation in the commons. on his watch, rapists are left to roam the streets, so will he apologise to those victims who will never get justice because of his failures? hear, hear! the justice secretary defending their record. the conviction rate has gone up. it is now 69%. we are doing much more to support the victims of rape when they come forward... well, they're talking a good game. in fact, we've quadrupled funding for victims since 2010. but the former victims' commissioner — a new one still hasn't been appointed — is disappointed. the bill will have no effect whatsoever on delays.

that's a matter of poor funding for the courts, historically, and it is now absolutely intolerable that vulnerable victims like rape victims have to wait. there was an outcry when the taxi rapistjohn worboys was about to be released on parole. now the justice secretary plans to give himself the power to block the release of dangerous prisoners, even though there's a warning that it could cause legal issues and bills. victims first, the aim, but their support has been so stretched and their experiences so poor. lucy manning, bbc news. documents seen by the bbc show that one of police scotland's main control rooms employed a dummy system to manipulate response time targets for at least eight years. an internal system registered thousands of calls to the bilston glen control room in midlothian as having been passed to officers, but in reality, they'd just been logged on a list. it meant in many cases, police vehicles weren't dispatched

quickly to emergencies, or they didn't turn up at all. bbc scotland's investigations correspondent mark daly has the full details. lamara bell and john yuill died in july 2015 after their crash on the m9 was left unattended for three days by police. police scotland admitted their call handling system was at fault for the tragedy. now the control room involved, bilston glen in midlothian, is under further scrutiny. the bbc can reveal that for at least eight years up to march 2015, bilston glen was operating a dummy call handling system to manipulate response times, giving the appearance police performance was better than in reality. it also led to many calls going unattended. internal police documents obtained by the bbc under freedom of information reveal the practice was designed to prevent the activation of internal alarms and provide artificial levels

of incident management performance. they would assign a job to the dummy call sign, and internal systems would think thatjob had been allocated to a police car and response time targets were being met. but in reality, thejob had slipped to the bottom of the controller's priority list and may end up not having a police car sent at all. the practice was stopped four months before the m9 tragedy, but the lawyer who acted for the bell family says they should have been told about it. astonished, to be perfectly honest. i think that puts the wider public at risk, if calls are not being actioned. and to not respond to them or to put them into a dummy system whereby there is no guarantee that they will go back to them, is quite shocking, to be honest. based on a snapshot of the number of times the dummy call sign was used, the bbc estimates that over the eight years in both forces, more than 4,000 priority one calls, where there is a threat to life or serious crime in progress,

may not have been attended. in a statement, police scotland said the dummy callsign was a practice which had been in use by one legacy service since 1997 to assist controllers to allocate resource during periods of high demand. the practice should not have continued under police scotland and local use of the callsign in one service centre was halted injanuary 2015, when a new command and control system was introduced. the practice was permanently discontinued in march 2015. the police�*s call handling problems of 2015 are now likely to come under renewed focus. mark daly, bbc news. king charles has been attending a state banquet in berlin this evening, on the first day of his official visit to germany. he's vowed to strengthen the ties between the two countries, and became the first head of state since the second world war to be honoured with a full ceremonial and military welcome at the brandenburg gate. his first overseas trip

as monarch was supposed to have begun in france, but protests against raising the pension age meant that was postponed. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell has more from berlin. white tie and tiaras for the state banquet. but don't be too dazzled by all the diamonds and decorations. the first state visit of king charles's reign represents a serious mission set by the british government. the focus is europe, the setting is berlin, and the king's language initially was german. es ist wunderbar heute in abend in so grosse gesellschaft su sein. then, in english, this commitment. throughout the time that is granted to me as king, i will do all i can all i can to strengthen the connections between us. and this on ukraine. we stand side by side in protecting and advancing our shared democratic values.

this is epitomised so clearly today as we stand together with ukraine in defence of freedom and sovereignty in the face of unprovoked aggression. the king had received the first full ceremonial welcome at the brandenburg gate for any state visitor. he inspected the guard of honour, standard fare for a state visit, but it's the subtext on these occasions that matters, and that is very clear. state visits are all about the big picture, the core elements in the relationship between the host and the visiting nation. in this instance of course with the uk now outside the eu, it's all about the bonds, the links that remain. it's about shared histories and shared values. friendship between two european nations. i hope you don't have to stand here too long. no, it's fine. it's a message which will be

repeated when the king becomes the first british monarch to address the german federal parliament. nicholas witchell, bbc news, berlin. the uk government's own advisers say it's not doing enough to prepare for the weather extremes caused by global warming, and england now faces a "make or break moment". the latest report from the climate change committee says there'll be an increased risk to life and infrastructure unless current policy changes. here's our climate editor, justin rowlatt. we got a glimpse of britain's climate future last summer. wildfires spread to homes in east london, as temperatures hit record highs. trains were cancelled, as equipment failed. the tarmac melted, closing luton airport, and a national emergency was declared, as heat—related deaths hit record highs. front—line medical staff saw the effects first hand. that period of intense heat had a profound impact on the volume of patients that needed urgent care,

and this resulted in delays and cancellations in planned operations. the government's advisers say the nhs isn't the only institution that needs to do much more to prepare for the weather extremes our changing climate will bring. 0h! the recent shortage of fresh vegetables was blamed, in part, on unseasonable weather in europe, and it shows how vulnerable ourfood system can be. many of our homes overheat in summer. the report says no part of society in england is adapting fast enough. well, our report is saying the government has not done enough. it's wasted the last ten years. we've had a lost decade, with not enough preparation for the climate change we've got now and, of course, the increasing impacts of climate change that are to come. every sector, and all planning decisions, need to take into account the impact of our changing

climate, she says. the uk government has welcomed the report and says it will "robustly address" the full range of climate risks to the uk. it's not all bad news. there are some examples of effective adaptation. the vineyards here in kent, for example, are already choosing grape varieties that will thrive in our increasingly hot and dry summers. we have been able to ripen the traditional grapes of champagne, chardonnay, they were not able to be ripened in the 19605 and 705 so agriculture, the climate is changing and we are moving with that to make the best wine5 and we are moving with that to make the best wines from our countryside. the grapes may be doing well, but today's report says that without more preparation the rest of us are likely to struggle. justin rowlatt, bbc news, kent. it's becoming increasingly difficult to find affordable rental

accomodation in the uk, with figures from the property website zoopla suggesting avaialble properties have fallen by a third in the past 18 months. the sharp drop in the number of listings has driven up rent5 for new tenants by 11%. as part of the bbc�*s rental health week, li5teners and viewers from across the uk have been in touch about their experiences of the rental market. here's colletta smith. as you can see, underneath's completely di5gu5ting. all the wall is waterlogged. chiara and her husband complained about mould and damp in their london flat and were issued with a section 21 eviction order injanuary... there's, like, water between the panes. ..and we've been following their house—hunt. so, a good location. 1,500 for a one—bed. this is the kitchen, yeah, there's the garden. she's had enough of being dragged around flats all week. 0ur old letting agent e—mailed to say that they're keeping our full deposit,

so i spent all day yesterday trying to sort that out, and just spent all evening ju5t crying. according to a yougov survey, conducted on behalf of the housing charity shelter, tenants who complained to their landlord were more than twice as likely to be handed an eviction notice than those who hadn't. so i first reported this to the landlady at least a year ago. it happened to david and samira in north yorkshire too. they sort of said that she was going to issue us with a section 21, which is a no—fault eviction, because of us complaining, essentially, of the damp. it wasjust before christmas and you were six months' pregnant — five, six months' pregnant — and just that feeling of, well, hang on a minute, i pay my rent every month on time, if not early most months, and now, all of a sudden, i've got two months to get out. in england, the government have promised to ban no—fault evictions by the summer, but that's not helping tenants facing the rental crunch now. it is quite difficult -

sometimes to challenge, which is why we're saying i that we just need to get rid of section 21 and have a situation where landlords can evict people| for legitimate reasons i and can't evict them just because they complain about the poor condition of their home. _ but there's another side to this situation. you need to understand that we're also people as well. lou's been a small—scale landlord for years. his mortgage payments have doubled in recent months, and he says he had no choice but to evict a tenant in sheffield who stopped paying rent a couple of years ago. how much did it cost you, that whole process of eviction? it cost me over £20,000, in total. well, if you take into account lost rent, the fact that i was paying out for everything, all the costs associated with it. i then had to get legal support. i used to... i used to really enjoy this. you know? i hate it now. i really do. and, to be quite honest, i can't wait to get out of it. and fewer properties available

to rent means more pressure and higher prices for tenants. david and samira have found a new home, just in time for the arrival of little baby ayla this week. colletta smith, bbc news. and you can find out how much rent5 have gone up in your area, what your rights are when renting, and get tips on how to secure a new home — just head to the bbc news home page, and check out the section entitled cost of living, tackling it together. the liberal democrats have accused the conservatives of making the cost of living cri5i5 worse, as the party began its campaign for the local elections in england in may. the party's leader, sir ed davey, says the government had "crashed the economy," and added hundreds of pounds to people's monthly mortgage payments. here's our political correspondent, jonathan blake. breaking down what they call a "blue wall" of conservative

support, the lib dems gave their now familiar message a rural spin to launch the party's campaign for local elections next month. hi, everybody! the theme continued, as the lib dem leader, sir ed davey, took his tractor to berkhamsted, in hertford5hire, this morning — one of many rural areas where council seats are up for grabs. his focus, the cost of living and health services, which he claims are on the brink. well, on the 11th of may, the british people can send the conservatives a very strong message that they're fed up of them, that they think they've betrayed our country, and they can vote for the liberal democrats, who've got strong local champions fighting for their communities. they can elect liberal democrat councils to deliver a fair deal. and they can make sure that liberal democrats are in a strong position to defeat many conservative mp5 at the next general election. but, while the lib dems may be taking aim at the government, voters here are weighing up local issues too. council tax prices. bills obviously crippling a lot of people at the moment. graffiti and litter, and all those things affect me the most. -

housing, obviously, is very important. . local environment, building, schools, the nhs, where they can help. coming to traditionally conservative, relatively rural areas like this part of hertford5hire shows the lib dems are increasingly confident about winning over former tory supporters in the local elections across england. but, for a party on the margins at westminster, the challenge is to be the most attractive option, as voters make up their minds. jonathan blake, bbc news, hertford5hire. a patagotitan dinosaur, is about to go on display at the one of the biggest animals ever to walk the earth, a patagotitan dinosaur, is about to go on display at the

natural history museum in london. its huge bones were discovered more than 10 years ago in argentina. it's a replica skeleton that will be on show, but that means the public will be able to touch it, and walk beneath it. 0ur science editor, rebecca morelle, has that story. piece by piece. bone by colo55al bone. a creature from 100 million years ago begins to emerge. this is patagotitan, one of the largest dino5aur5 ever to walk the earth. a55embling this dinosaur is like putting together a giant 3d jigsaw puzzle. there are more than 500 bones and fixings but no instruction manual. this beast measures 37 metres from the tip of its no5e all the way down to its tail, and itju5t about squeezes into this room with a few twists and turns along the way. the titanosaur is a cast, an exact replica of the original fo55ili5ed bones, and getting a creature like this into a 140—year—old building has been a challenge. we have had to take some of the doors off in order to get the crates and different parts of the dinosaur in,

and some of the bones and the cast itself are quite heavy so we've had to reinforce our floors. that sense of awe at standing under one of the largest animals to have walked on land and trying to imagine it as a living, breathing creature is, yeah, it's amazing. the bones were unearthed at a ranch in patagonia in argentina just over a decade ago. a5 5cienti5ts got to grips with the scale of their find, they were joined by sir david attenborough. he also got a chance to see what this titan of the cretaceous period might have looked like. now the exhibition is complete, the dinosaur is ready for its moment in the spotlight. one of the first things you notice is the huge toothy grin with these pencil—like teeth. they are constantly on the move, would have been just feeding machines. constantly using those heads to stuff more and more leaves and twigs and so on into its body just in order to keep it moving around. patagotitan still holds some mysteries.

no one knows why these creatures grew so big or how