live from london — this is bbc news. tv presenter holly willoughby says she is hurt after phillip schofield's admission about a relationship with a younger itv colleague — which he previously denied to her. the home office says e—gates are now operating as normal — after long delays for some passengers travelling to the uk. it's the final day of campaigning in turkey — ahead of one of the country's most divisive presidential elections. in the uk, the post office apologises for using racist language to describe sub—postmasters — who were being wrongly investigated as part of the horizon computer scandal. hello, i'm lucy grey.

some breaking news — in the past hour the british tv presenter, holly willoughby, has reacted to phillip schofield's admission to a relationship with a younger employee, saying she is hurt. on friday, mr schofield resigned from itv saying he had lied to cover up the relationship, which he described as "unwise, but not illegal". itv has said it investigated rumours of the relationship but both repeatedly denied it. our correspondent, katharine da costa, has more on this story. so what has holly willoughby been saying? she willoughby been saying? has been responding to d that she has been responding to do now is that philip schofield had had a younger man on the show, this morning, in 2020. in a statement on her instagram account, holly said, "it has taken time to process this news. when reports of this relationship first surfaced, i asked phil if it was true and he told me

it was not. it has been a very hurtful to now found out that this was a live." remind us how a big a name is phillip schofield. philip schofield is a household name here in the uk. he started out as a children's tv presenter and has gone on to present a string of high—profile programmes, including dancing on ice. perhaps he was is well known for hosting the itv presenter of this morning, a role he had for more than 20 years. audiences really liked the chemistry he had with his co—presenter, holly willoughby. there has been months of speculation online about his personal relationships. last week he left this morning following reports of a rift between him and holly willoughby, something he said was unrelated to this latest revelation. yesterday he admitted he did have an affair with a younger man he worked with on the show.

he said while the relationship was unwise, it was not illegal. he was still married at the time of the affair to his wife. they separated in 2020 after out as gay. philip schofield went on to say he was very, very sorry for being unfaithful to his wife and to lying to lying to friends, colleagues and the public about the relationship, and he said he was going to reflect on his very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. itv also earlier released a statement? itv says it investigated rumours that philip schofield had an affair with an employee when they first started to circulate in 2020. the broadcaster said both parties had repeatedly denied the rumours. a number of people who worked on this morning were also spoken to, but there was no evidence of a relationship that was found beyond hearsay. itv says it is deeply disappointed and that his statement confirms

that he had lied to people at the company, both at senior management and to fellow presenters. some have suggested that the revelations raise questions about how much the network's managers knew at the time. what does this all mean for phillip schofiled now? this has been a particularly difficult time for the presenter. earlier he took time out and step back from this morning while his brother's court case was ongoing. this month, his brother was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of sexually abusing a boy. now philip schofield's exit from itv means that he will not now present in the british soap awards next month or front a new prime—time series that itv said had been lined up series that itv said had been lined up for him. he has also been dropped by his talent agency, ymu, following the announcement about the affair. it is likely the 61—year—old will take time out to reflect and assess

what he does next. the home office says all e—gates at uk airports are working again after a nationwide it issue left passengers facing long queues at passport control. in a statement, it said... graham satchell has been looking at the impact on passengers. gatwick airport — described by one passenger today as an utterjoke. this is manchester, where again there were huge queues for passport control. and at heathrow, arriving passengers were forced to wait more than three hours. there was absolutely chaos at passport control, i waited something like 2.5 hours to get out of the airport. this is wayne fenton at luton airport. already been in the queue now forabout 1.5 hours, in fact nearly two hours. the home office said the problem

was with the whole uk border system, in particular e—gates, where passengers scan their own passports stopped working. this is one of the worst outages concerning the e—gates system. in the past when we have seen the odd outage, it has been for two or three hours and fixed fairly quickly, but already we are seeing the scale of this particular outage. the timing of this disruption couldn't be worse, the start of the busy bank holiday weekend and for many the spring half term. the home office have been saying that they have been trying to fix this problem as a matter of urgency, but when i asked them exactly what the problem is that they're trying to fix, they said it was too sensitive to say. it is now nearly five to three, we landed at five to 12. three hours waiting. an absolute nightmare. wayne finally made it

and is on his way home. but this was luton airport, this afternoon still packed and this was bristol. the home office says that the idea she has now been resolved. i've been speaking to tony smith, a former director general of the uk border force, about the scale of the problem. very unusual in my experience. we have had outages at individual terminals and individual ports of entry in the past, but a systemic ooutage of this scale and for this long is really unusual. you heard our correspondent earlier, how they asked the home office what it is about and they said it was too sensitive to tell you any more. but obviously it was not just individual gates, it was an issue with the system. is there anything with your experience that you can say it could have been? could it have been hacked perhaps? or what could it have been? there obviously is an interface between the e—gates that are installed at the airports and home office systems, because everybody who

comes into the country, whether via an e—gate or via an officer, has to be thoroughly checked against systems. i can only assume that there was some connectivity issue between the e—gates and the home office systems. i obviously can't go into details about what those systems might be. but clearly security at the border is paramount and we cannot let anybody through the border unless they have been properly checked, even though we know 99.99% of traffic is perfectly genuine, we can't afford to take that risk. the alternative fallback strategy is to push everybody through the manual controls where officers have the systems to do the manual checks there. but we do rely very much on these e—gates, partuclarly at busy at busy holiday like this. i heard something like 60—80% of passengers are processed through the e—gates.

are the airports too reliant on them? at airports around the world, we are talking about automated border controls, whether they are e—gates, kiosks, orsomething, because the volume of traffic no longer enables us to see every single passenger and check their passports personally by an officer. but i think there are some questions about the back—up plan, which at the moment was just switch to manual, and if you don't have enough officers available, then you will get three to four hour long queues. also i think the communication is really important. lots of messages coming in to you no doubt from passengers that they simply didn't know what was going on. we do need to work with the airports so that messages are clearly sent out — this is what the problem is, this is what we will try to do to fix it, and this is how long you will have to wait. i think that is part of the problem.

to turkey now and that big presidential election happening tomorrow, sunday. it's a two—way runoff between the current presdient, recep tayyip erdogan — he's been in powerfor two decades. — and his main rival, the secular opposition leader, kemal kilicdaroglu. in the first round of the election earlier this month, president erdogan won 49.5% of the vote — just over 4% more than his rival. both candidates are now chasing support from nationalist voters. our middle east correspondent, anna foster, is in istanbul. both of these contenders have really squeezed every last drop out of theircampaigning. they've been out in public — kemal kilicdaroglu in the capital, ankara, recep tayyip erdogan here in istanbul — bringing people around them, really both trying to win those crucial votes that they need for one of them to push over the 50% mark, because that is the key. it's now come down to a straight run—off between these two candidates. the expectation is that we will this time we will find out who turkey's next leader will be.

let's look in a little more detail at who the turkish people are choosing between. recep tayyip erdogan, in power here for 20 years, first as prime minister, then as president. he has been accused of becoming an increasingly authoritarian leader, changing the rules to keep himself in power. he brought in this executive presidency. also making this a much more deeply religious country, certainly in terms of civil society, the rule of law, that it was was beforehand. he and his supporters say he is a strong leadership candidate, that he is the sort of man that turkey needs to really cement its position in the world and deal with some of the problems in turkish society, like the economic crisis for example. he has been calling just today on his supporters not to be complacent, i think, not to look back at the fact he was so close last time round, to go out today and keep voting. translation: are we running to the polls tomorrow? - cheering will we cast our votes

from the early hours of the morning? we will not lose anyone who voted in the first round. do we agree on that? and for whatever reason, if anyone can't go to vote, we will encourage them as well. cheering that is what president recep tayyip erdogan has had to say. the challenger, kemal kilicdaroglu is a very different character. he is a quietly spoken former civil servant. he spent a lot of his campaign talking about his vision of a more secular future for turkey, talking about a more democratic country, saying that he would improve things like free speech. but his critics say that he would not be strong enough on the world stage. that he has not got the leadership experience to really provide a contrast to mr erdogan, to really push things forward the things in the way that he could.

but kemal kilicdaroglu has been saying to his supporters and to some of these floating voters that he can solve some of the problem is that turkey has been suffering. translation: the situation that our l country is in right now is not good, l turkey needs to get out of this. to be able to do that, we need to put up a fight together. no matter how we look at the conditions that we are in, a pessimistic atmosphere has been created for everyone. today turkey has some serious economic problems. we will go to the polls and cast our vote, we will replace an authoritarian government through democratic means. so, how have voters right across the country responded to that? what do they think about the issues that the contenders have really been talking about? the economy is certainly one of the biggest things that people have been considering, turkey's economic crisis has been a long and is deep, people really feeling it in their pockets here. things like the country's response, and particularly the government's

response to those devastating earthquakes back in february, a lot of people saw that as slow and lacking. that did not seem to damage president erdogan�*s support in those southern areas though. increasingly, the issue around refugees, mainly syrian refugees, there are around 3 million in the country, and immigration has become a hot topic. both sides have been trying to outdo each other in terms of how many refugees they can remove from this country and how quickly. so what do people in istanbul think about all this? i have been talking to them about the issues that will really affect the way that they vote. translation: on the immigration issue, it is important _ to produce permanent policies. i think it is not feasible to find a solution that says they should stay or go. these policies should not be solely made by turkey. it's also important to make those policies in cooperation with neighbouring countries and home countries of foreigners. this way it is going

to be more sustainable. i feel very sorry for the migrants. not only syrians, but afghans are residing in turkey now. but i believe they have been receiving too much tolerance. our own population needs jobsjust as much. i think migrants have been given too much. they have even been granted nationality as well, and i find it very upsetting. one man, president erdogan, delivered more than he - promised for 21 years. the opposition is promising things that reduce - the opportunities for young people. he is trying to divide the country. if the opposition comes into power, i the country will be divided in two. i erdogan is the most logical candidate, but i don't- want to support erdogan, but there isn't really- another option for me. that is just a flavour of the feeling on the streets of istanbul. tomorrow morning when turks wake up around 8am local time, the polls will open and they will spend the day, right through until 5pm, casting their votes. this one is simple — one ballot paper, two candidates. when the polls close at 5pm,

the counting will start immediately. we expect as people in turkey will start to think about going to bed, a lot of that counting will be have been done and we will have a clearer idea of who turkey's next president will be. here in the uk, it's emerged that hundreds of sub—postmasters were racially profiled using racist terms, as part of the post office investigation into its failed horizon it system. more than 700 sub—postmasters were prosecuted for false accounting, based on information from a flawed system — in what's been described as "the most widespread miscarriage ofjustice in uk history". the post office has apologised. our business correspondent, peter ruddick, reports. more than 700 post office branch managers were wrongly prosecuted

when faulty software made it look as though they had taken money. now they've discovered they were also being classified and logged along racial lines, using outdated and racist language. an internal document, which has been made public after a freedom of information request, shows fraud investigators were asked to give all potential suspects a number relating to racial background. the number categories include the terms: chinese/japanese types, dark—skinned european types and an offensive colonial term that refers to people of african descent. baljit ran two post offices in east london with his wife for more than 20 years. he lost his business and was declared bankrupt. after giving evidence to the inquiry into the scandal, he now finds it too traumatic to discuss what he's been through. his son said his family were disappointed

but not surprised by the document. it was quite disturbing and itjust goes to show the post office has had a rotten culture at its core for a number of years and this information wasn't made available by the post office. it came about because of the campaigners and people fighting for justice from the post office, so this is how it came to light, otherwise it would have stayed buried for a long time further. a spokesperson said... several sub postmasters have now had their convictions overturned. however, there are many, like baljit, who are still waiting for compensation. peter ruddick, bbc news. moscow is blaming ukraine for multiple attacks in russia. the governor of kursk region said cross—border mortrar fire had killed a construction worker in a border village. the russian defence ministry also said that they have intercepted two

long—range missiles supplied by britain, and shot down 12 drones in the last 2a hours. ukraine's most senior security official has said the country is ready to launch its long—expected counter—offensive against russian forces. in a rare interview, oleksiy danilov told the bbc the planned assault was an "historic opportunity", but the government had "no right to make a mistake" when making such an important decision. james landale reports from kyiv. this is what's left of bakhmut in eastern ukraine. images filmed by russian forces of the ruins they now largely control. mercenaries from the wagner group claimed they're withdrawing, being replaced by regular russian troops. but ukraine insists its forces are still engaged on the ground in the outskirts, as the country's most senior security official told us. translation: we controljust a small i part of the city, and we admit that. l but you have to keep in mind that bakhmut has played a big role in this war.

are the wagner mercenary group withdrawing, as their leader, prigozhin, says? yes, that is happening. but it doesn't mean that they will stop fighting us. they're going to concentrate more on other fronts. our intelligence is following that. we understand where they will appear next. they are regrouping to other locations and we're following that. and all the while, ukraine is preparing a counter—offensive. this propaganda video broadcast by military commanders to raise morale and encourage what they called a decisive offensive — but when might it begin?

translation: we will figure out | when that will start so that we can have the best result at that point of war. it could happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week. it would be strange if i were to name dates or the start of that or another event. that cannot be done. but you're ready? we're always ready. the same as we were ready to defend our country at any time. and it is not a question of time. we have to understand that that historical opportunity that is given to us by god, to our country, we cannot lose. so we can truly become an independent, big european country. but until that happens, ukraine will remain vulnerable to attacks like this — a hospital in dnipro destroyed by a russian missile that air defences this time failed to stop. james landale, bbc news, kyiv.

some breaking news — in the past hour the british tv presenter, holly willoughby, has reacted to phillip schofield's admission about a relationship with a younger employee, saying she is hurt. on friday, mr schofield resigned from itv saying he had lied to cover up the relationship, which he described as "unwise, but not illegal". itv has said it investigated rumours of the relationship, but both repeatedly denied it. let's get more reaction from siobhan synnot, a tv and film journalist. cannot you just talk us through a little bit about what holly willoughby has said? this little bit about what holly willoughby has said? this is the latest chapter _ willoughby has said? this is the latest chapter in _ willoughby has said? this is the latest chapter in itv's _ willoughby has said? this is the latest chapter in itv's this - willoughby has said? this is the i latest chapter in itv's this morning crisis. holly willoughby has said that she was one of those that philip schofield lied to by denying that he was having a relationship with somebody on the show. she has said it has taken time to process

yesterday's names. when reports of this relationship surface, i asked phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. it has been very hurtful with enough time that this has been a lie. she has posted this has been a lie. she has posted this on instagram. it opens up another line of questions. as she said, she asked him point—blank about the relationship and he said that she did not know about the relationship. this pushes the focus perhaps away from her and on to senior management at itv. what was it that prompted phil and his partner if they were having a relationship?— partner if they were having a relationshi-? ., ., , , relationship? that has been some criticism of _ relationship? that has been some criticism of itv _ relationship? that has been some criticism of itv from _ relationship? that has been some criticism of itv from former - criticism of itv from former presenters there, but they said in a statement today that they didn't look into rumours that they had heard about. tell me more about what they said? it is heard about. tell me more about what the said? , , ., they said? it is interesting that they said? it is interesting that the said they said? it is interesting that they said that _ they said? it is interesting that they said that they _ they said? it is interesting that| they said that they investigated this in 2020 and they asked philip schofield if they were having a relationship, and they also say that he not only said no but they could

not find evidence that this was the case. it does raise questions about the investigation and subsequent to a 2020 and why was this race in the first place? who raise theirs in the first place? who raise theirs in the first place? who raise theirs in the first place? at the moment we are hearing a lot of allegations about who knew on social media. it is very difficult to filter that through as to the veracity and get some clarity from that. but certainly at the seams to be a general feeling among some of those who previously worked for this morning that people did now. that this itv statement does not go far enough to offering much clarity. i not go far enough to offering much clari . , , not go far enough to offering much clari. , .,, not go far enough to offering much clari. , ., i. ., _ clarity. i suppose holly willoughby really trying _ clarity. i suppose holly willoughby really trying to _ clarity. i suppose holly willoughby really trying to draw _ clarity. i suppose holly willoughby really trying to draw a _ clarity. i suppose holly willoughby really trying to draw a line - clarity. i suppose holly willoughby really trying to draw a line under l really trying to draw a line under any questions about what she knew today. where does that leave her? well, holly willoughby has certainly said that she didn't know. but then

you wonder, well, why did they fall outhas not offered any insight into that, into why she and phillip schofield fill it so badly let in the end he decided to leave the show, or perhaps it was suggested to him it would be in his best interest to leave the show. so it becomes a more complicated story each time somebody tries to clarify it, doesn't it? it somebody tries to clarify it, doesn't it?— somebody tries to clarify it, doesn't it? , ., . ., , doesn't it? it is good to clarify it. i doesn't it? it is good to clarify it- i should — doesn't it? it is good to clarify it. i should say _ doesn't it? it is good to clarify it. i should say four _ doesn't it? it is good to clarify it. i should say four people . it. i should say four people wondering if they have not heard of him, he is a really big name in the uk. , ., , ., ., uk. funnily enough, it will be on on monda . uk. funnily enough, it will be on on monday- it — uk. funnily enough, it will be on on monday. it sounds _ uk. funnily enough, it will be on on monday. it sounds like _ uk. funnily enough, it will be on on monday. it sounds like an _ monday. it sounds like an interesting programme if you are tuning in. interesting programme if you are tunin: in. �* , interesting programme if you are tunin: in. v ., interesting programme if you are tunin: in. �*, ., «g interesting programme if you are tunin in. �*, ., ., tuning in. let's go quickly back to the south of _ tuning in. let's go quickly back to the south of france _ tuning in. let's go quickly back to the south of france and _ tuning in. let's go quickly back to the south of france and that - tuning in. let's go quickly back to the south of france and that they| the south of france and that they come cannes film festivalfor the last evening there. we have seen a lot of people arriving there in the

last few minutes. there is of costly palm d'or announcement later on. they are writing for the award ceremony. you have been watching bbc news with me, lucy grey. thank you very much for your company. hello, good afternoon. cloud and sunshine amounts will vary as we head through the next few days. there is some cloud around today, as captured by our weather watcher here in the highlands, but lots of blue sky and sunshine. for the vast majority of us it will be completely dry this bank holiday weekend too, with high pressure dominating, some more spells of warm sunshine but clouding over at times too. and this is the cloud produced by our cold front earlier on today on the satellite picture. it is gradually sinking southwards, introducing more cloud this afternoon across northern ireland and into northern england. brightening up for northern scotland. by the time we get to the end of the day, some strong gusty winds perhaps over the northern isles,

but the best of the sunshine in england and wales, temperatures here ranging between 19 and 22c. cooler towards coastal areas. and don't forget the sunshine is strong at this time of year. the uv levels will be high and they will remain high as we head through into next week. and of course the grass pollen season is also just getting under way. now, overnight tonight, we will start to see parts of northern ireland and much of western scotland cloud over. if we do see any prolonged clear spells across the highlands, temperatures could drop very close to freezing. it's milder further south for england and wales, temperatures in mid to high single figures. high pressure still dominates on sunday, it is certainly looking dry and settled. there will be some areas of cloud around, mostly out towards western areas of scotland, where, again, it will feel cooler across northern ireland too. some areas of cloud out towards eastern areas of england, generally a cloudier—looking day with the best of the sunshine i think for western wales and for the far south—west of england, devon and cornwall. there will always be a cool breeze, it is picking up towards eastern coastal areas by the end of the day. highs of 22 or 23 celsius in the best of the sunshine. let's take a look at bank holiday monday. it is cooler and breezier across the south of england,

particularly towards those eastern coasts. again the best of the sunshine further north and west, highs of around 21 celsius perhaps across the central belt of scotland on bank holiday monday. and looking ahead to the rest of the week, well, the high pressure is going nowhere. it is keeping us dry and settled. there will be variable amounts of cloud around at times but also some sunshine and if we take a look at the outlook for our capital cities, you can see that most of the temperatures recover into the late 20s in celsius.

this is bbc news. the headlines: tv presenter holly willoughby says she is hurt after phillip schofield's admission about a relationship with a younger itv colleague, which he previously denied to her. the home office says e—gates are now operating as normal after long delays for some passengers travelling to the uk airports. the disruption, which began on friday night, was due to an it issue which is now resolved. it's the final day of campaigning in turkey ahead of one of the country's most divisive presidential elections, where the economy and immigration are key voter concerns. huge political rallies have been held to drum up support. ukraine's most senior security official tells the bbc the country is ready to launch its long—expected counter—offensive against russian forces.

in a rare interview, oleksiy danilov describes the planned assault