but many aren't happy, as some nations, including india, say the deal falls far short of what is needed. sir keir starmer promises to tackle the uk's "bulging benefits bill," warning it is "blighting society." i know from speaking to ourjob coaches, ourfantasticjob coaches in job centres, that there are people who could work, who aren't. storm bert continues to batter the uk, with heavy rain and thawing snow bringing flooding to many areas. there are weather warnings for wind and rain covering much of the country, and over 200 flood alerts in place. thousands of homes are still without power. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. about 4.2 million working age people are on health benefits, an increase of about a million in five years.

and the bill for health—related benefits is stands at £60 billion a year and is forecast to rise to 100 billion by the end of the deacade. it's an issue the prime minister says is "blighting society." the work and pensions secretary liz kendall addressed the issue on the sunday with laura kuenssberg programme this morning. not just the costs, but the increases are absolutely jaw dropping. why do you think this has happened? i think there are a complex number of reasons. we know we are an older, sicker nation. life expectancy and healthy life expectancy had halted even before the pandemic. we are seeing a really worrying number of young people now out of work, not in education, training or employment, often driven by mental health problems, but also made worse if they lack basic skills. maths and english gcse. and many of these problems

are concentrated in parts of the country that were decimated in the �*80s and �*90s that the last government promised but failed to level up. so there are real problems in certain parts of the country, and what we intend to do is to get britain working again. this is about increasing people's opportunities to work and get on at work with more, better—paid jobs in every part of the country. but it's also about understanding this fundamental issue. a healthy nation and a healthy economy are two sides of the same coin, and the problem at the moment is that our employment support system and welfare system is not set up to deal with that problem. it's too much focussed on official unemployment figures. those need to be kept low. but we've got to solve this conundrum of poor health, poor work and not enough people being able to earn to build a better life. i know you've studied this for a long time, both in opposition and now in in government, but there are a million more

people claiming health related benefits. do you really, in your bones, think that there are million more people in this country who are not capable of work than there were a few short years ago? i think there are a combination of factors here. i do think we are seeing an increase in the number of people with mental health problems, both self—diagnosed. i think it's good that stigma has been reduced but also diagnosed by doctors. we are also seeing more people in their 50s and above, often women with bad knees, hips, joints. we've got a real problem with our health service, with people waiting a long time for treatment. but on the issue of mental health that you raised there and you say sometimes it's self—diagnosis. if you look at the increase in rates, especially with young people who are not either going to college or working because of mental health issues, do you think we might have over medicalised what essentially can be normal feelings? you know, people now often say they have anxiety.

but have we gone too far in this? and actually, life is hard sometimes you might feel bad, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't work. i genuinely believe that there's not one simple thing. you know, the last government said people were too bluesy to work. i mean, i don't know who they were speaking to. there is a genuine problem with mental health in this country. and if you look at the best evidence, there's both. there is an increase. people are much more anxious. i think the cost of living crisis, anxious parents, anxious children, the impact of social media. but i think what we need you've seen and actually a doubling, a doubling of the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training saying that they have a mental health problem. so what do we need to do to tackle this problem? number one, shift the focus to preventing it happening in the first place. with more mental health support in the community and in people's homes, we are going to be bringing forward a new youth guarantee so that every young person is earning on learning. overhauling the apprenticeship system so more people have a chance to train, and bringing together that

work, health and skills support really driven by people in local areas because that's what our young people deserve. but if young people will not take up those offers. will they face sanctions? would they lose benefits if they just say no? because you've said yourself there should be no option of people having a life on benefits? yes. and the reason this is so important is we will transform those opportunities for young people. we will put in place a youth guarantee so everyone has the chance to be earning or learning. but in return for those new opportunities, young people will have a responsibility to take them up. and let me tell you why. because if you lack basic skills in today's world, that is brutal. if you are out of work when you're young, that can have lifelong consequences in terms of your future job prospects and earning potential. and it is also bad for your health. so we, the government, we will face up to our responsibility, unlike the last government, of having that guarantee in place. but young people in their return will have that responsibility

to take it up. and you know what? the young people i meet are desperate for a chance, they are desperate for a chance to get skills. they are desperate for a chance to earn a look. we'll fulfil our responsibilities and make that side of the bargain. but as the welfare secretary, do you believe as the last labour government did, that there are people who can work, who won't work? that's a phrase that one of your predecessors as a new labour minister used. do you believe that? yes. and i know from speaking to ourjob coaches, our fantasticjob coaches in job centres that there are people who could work, who aren't, but i think they are in the minority, the young people that i speak to. i went to my tesco�*s in my constituency in beaumont, leeds the other week. young people really struggling with anxiety and depression, getting support from tesco�*s and the king's trust to get the skills and training they need to get those jobs, supporting work. and you know what they said?

they found it was better for their mental health to have that structure, to have that purpose with the right support. i think it's a challenge. but i am optimistic. but what will you do about people who you believe can work but won't work? i mean, you are already, which might have slipped slightly under the radar. the government is already tightening up the rules on who can claim disability benefits. it's known as the work capability assessment. now that is being changed, and the projections are that more than 400,000 people might lose out benefits. now, disability groups have said actually all you're going to do then is land many, many, many people in poverty. are you comfortable with that? well, we're actually going to be bringing forward our own reforms on sickness and disability benefits. that's what the chancellor announced in the budget and the 0br has confirmed. just to be part i want to be clear on this point. so you inherited changes to this particular set of savings. and those savings will be made. but we will be...

and let me let me tell you why. let me be really clear. you are still planning to save the money here. and that means removing benefits from people. we will deliver the savings, but this has got to be part of a proper package of reforms. and i want to be really careful here because millions of people rely on those benefits. and many of them, whenever they hear this, are frightened and worried, and i don't blame them. after the last 14 years. but firstly, our starting point is the belief in the equal rights and chances of disabled people and those with health problems to earn a living just like anybody else does. we need to transform those opportunities by breaking down the barriers into work. but that does not mean we need to look at the system ——does mean. of benefits and reform or replace the work capability assessment because it's not working. it's not working for the people who depend on it, and it's not working for the taxpayer. and ijust want to be really clear on what you will do, because the plans that

you inherited from the former government would mean that more than 400,000 people would be denied, maybe as much as £400 a month. you want to make that saving. you want to get the money out of the system. we will deliver those savings, but we will bring forward our own reforms. you will hear more about this when we launch our white paper on tuesday. but are you telling those people this morning they'll be able to keep their benefits or not? as you rightly say, people are worried about this. i'm saying we will bring forward our own reforms. you wouldn't expect me to announce this on your programme, but my objective is that disabled people should have the same chances and rights to work as everybody else. they need more opportunities. it needs to be underpinned by a system that actually supports people into work, rather than writing them off. for many people, this is about poverty and it's about the fear of losing out. and one of this government's earlier decision was to take winter fuel payments away from all but the poorest pensioners, and one of those who's losing out, one of our viewers, called jenny, wants some advice. she wants us to ask you. i hear energy prices are rising again. should i cut down on heating and put on a blanket?

the first thing i'd say to her is see if you are entitled to pension credit. we've got over 800,000 pensioners missing out on up to £3,900 a year on pension credit, and also missing out on their winter fuel payment. there's also the £150 a warm homes discount, which is available notjust to those on pension credit, but those just above. and there's also the household support fund, which we have extended for another year with £1 billion, which can help the very poorest pensioners on pension credit, but those just above it. secretary of state... there is help available. turn the heating down? should she put a blanket on? i do not want anyone choosing between heating or eating. that is why we have made the biggest push to make sure the very poorest pensioners get the support they are entitled to. there's other support available too, and i think it's really important that people know that.

let's turn then to a huge and very sensitive subject of assisted dying. now, mps will be able to vote as they wish on friday. there's also the separate draft legislation in the scottish parliament, but it will be a huge discussion this week in westminster. now you backed this change. why? look, the government's position and it's really important i'm clear about this is that it is a free vote. the government does not have a position of yes or no on this, but i have for many years supported this and indeed voted for it the last time because i believe in giving people as much power, say, and control as possible over the things that matter to them most. and i believe the bill has the right safeguards to make sure that that can be done properly. now, you will, i'm sure, want to get into the debate about that bill. but let me just say this thing, i think it is really important as a society, we talk about what makes for a good death because, thank goodness, with medical advances, the sudden deaths from heart attacks and stroke are much less common than they were in the past. and many of us in our own families see people who take

more time to die. and we really need to wake up to that question and face it about what makes a good death. and that will be different for different people. for some, it will be having that good quality palliative care in a hospice or at home, and others, i believe, would want that right to choose. a vital conversation. but in the context of this week and the safeguards in this bill, your colleague, the health secretary, your colleague, the justice secretary who would preside over the legal framework, she's told her constituents that the proposed safeguards are not nearly enough. they are particularly weak, to use her phrase. how can you judge that the country is ready to do this? if the minister, who's in charge of the justice system says the safeguards aren't strong enough? well, you'll understand that as a government minister, i don't want to get into discussing all of the details about that.

or, you know, shabana and wes have strong views. the government's position is neutral. but let me say this. the bill safeguards are that you have to be terminally ill with six months of life remaining, to have two independent doctors agree that you are of sound mind and that you haven't come under pressure. and a high courtjudge. that's what's in the bill. people will debate that. i believe that those are the strong enough safeguards. others will disagree. but do you think that this is settled for the country? mps have only had three three weeks. let mejust say... i just want to ask you this question. there are people on both sides of this debate who are not necessarily convinced that now is the time. they're not necessarily believing the conversation that's taking place fully or widely enough. and the former prime minister, gordon brown, who is against the change, we should say, but he's suggesting having some kind of more structured conversation, whether it might be a commission or citizens assemblies, but so that as a country, politicians and the public could be really, really sure. people are always going to disagree on this, laura.

they will always disagree on this. and the point is not that this is for everybody it's you have a right... i think you should have the right to choose. do you want to do this or not? do you want good palliative care? i want all of these options because that's what giving people power, choice and control means. it's not making you do my decision or my choice. it's about putting that in place. i actually think... i know this is being often in i understand it reduced to a sort of debate about who thinks what within cabinet. there's something much bigger here, which is as a country and a society, more of us will see death and have longer deaths. and we have to debate that. i think ultimately that is only a good thing, because death comes to us all. but i'm not asking you about a cabinet split. i'm asking you now whether perhaps the right thing would be to have a pause so that people can have more time

to think about this, to be really, really sure. it's a profound change. you will know that we have been debating this since the 20... since the last time we voted on it in 2015. so i have no doubt that even if we did have that, there would be strongly differing opinions. that, laura, is life. justice secretary shabana mahmood has attacked the assisted dying bill as a "state death service" before a vote on the proposals by mps on friday. if it passes, it would give some terminally ill people the right to choose to end their own life. some faith leaders have also voiced their opposition to the measure, as simonjones reports. those backing the bill in parliament argue it would stop some terminally ill people having to endure harrowing deaths. those against warn that people could be put under pressure to end their lives. now 29 faith leaders have published a letter. among them, the bishop of london, the roman catholic cardinal of westminster and the chief rabbi and in it they say...

it is a view shared by the bishop of bath and wells. i'm very concerned that, as it stands, the bill does not have sufficient safeguards to ensure that no—one can be pressurised into choosing an early death, either because they feel a burden themselves or potentially that they are caused to feel a burden by others. the bill would give someone expected to die within six months the right to choose to end their own life. the legislation would require two independent doctors and a judge to determine whether the person satisfies the criteria, including a clear wish to do so, free from coercion. the medication to end life must be self—administered. the bishop of london,

who signed the letter, is a former chief nursing officerfor england. she and the other signatories argued that what is needed is better palliative care for people at the end of their life. they say that, at present, such care is worryingly underfunded. but a leading rabbi believes religious leaders are out of step with their flocks. we all hope to have as good a life as possible. why shouldn't we have as good a death as possible? so, providing people are terminally ill and mentally competent and they want to have it of their own free will, then who am i to deny them and who is anybody else to say because of their theology, someone else has to suffer in the last few weeks or months? last night, thejustice secretary, shabana mahmood, warned the bill could be putting the country on a slippery slope towards death on demand. in a letter to her constituents, she wrote...

mps will vote on the issue on friday. simon jones, bbc news. let's get more on storm bert, the powerful weather event that swept across the the uk and ireland yesterday. as we go to air, more than 80 flood warnings are still in place. flooding in south wales has led to a major incident being declared. killybegs, in the north west of ireland, was hit hard by the storm, with major flooding. thomas pringle is a councillor in killybegs and told me how the town was coping. i got a phone call from one of the other business owners at about 7:00 yesterday morning and got up and went down and wasn't expecting to see what i saw. basically there was a river had burst its banks and was flowing down the street. and in the town itself and where it is, is on the coastline is a fishing port. and there's a river that runs down

the back of our street into the...into the tide. and it was running down the road and flooding all the premises along the street. and there was probably about ten or ii businesses were flooded and about ten houses as well. and it was very bad. it took about... the fire brigade were there and it took till about probably half 12 or 1:00 yesterday until they actually got... we could actually enter our buildings to assess the damage. and it was basically... they were all destroyed. got to clean up, then. all yesterday afternoon and get a... we can't really test the full damage and probably till beginning of the week or so till we start to dry them out properly. i've had to see what needs to be replaced in the ground. and what's happening there this morning. how big is the clean—up? well, most of we got, most

of all this day's furniture off the furniture and everything out there all had to be taken out yesterday and destroyed and flooring left. and that as well was removed yesterday. and then... so we're basically in the process of trying to dry the building out now on all the buildings on the street to dry them out and remove any excess water and see just what damage has been done to structural damage, as any has been done, that maybe a wall might have to be tossed or replaced or stuff like that, theirfloors dug up and replacing that as well too. so that'll be another couple of days before we can actually see for definite in relation to that, just to get them dried out and see. will they survive? and thomas, how would you say that this storm compares with other previous weather events there in killybegs. oh, this is definitely the worst that we've seen. and there was... the street was flooded about, uh, seven years ago as well. um, but it was flooded by the by a high tide coming in. and rainfall. the rain couldn't the water couldn't get away, and it was flooded by a tidal event. but this was an event

from basically on higher ground around killybegs. there was an awful lot of there was a very heavy snowfalls during the night, um, which i wasn't even aware of at all. i went to bed about 12:00 and it was raining, but it seemed grand. and then there was very heavy snowfalls and then extremely heavy rain on top of that as well. so there was a massive flood basically, and it all came down. it came down the street and that done the damage. so there's even if there was, there was plans to put in some flood protection works for the sea from the sea side of it, but that wouldn't have made any effect to this and protected against this damage at all, because this came all from the land, the land end of things and higher ground. a british businessman caught on camera confessing to illegally selling millions of pounds of luxury perfume to russia is not facing criminal charges, the bbc has learned. david crisp was arrested last year but his case was later dropped by hmrc, the tax collecting agency which is also responsible for enforcing sanctions. selling luxury goods to russia

is a serious offence punishable by up to ten years in prison, but campaigners say the uk is far behind other countries when it comes to punishing violators. will vernon reports. i'm from london. oh, no kidding? i live in dubai. how's your russian market? cani... don't tell anyone, we're doing really well. oh, good for you! we ignore government edicts. that was british businessman david crisp confessing to violating sanctions against russia in an undercover video shared with the bbc. crisp sold luxury perfume, he rubbed shoulders with celebrities, but they didn't know about his activities in russia. his business partner didn't know either, but david garofalo got a tip—off and hired the private investigators who filmed the undercover video. he also contacted the hmrc. and then, many months went by, disinterested in further evidence that we'd found,

and we learned that they had appeared to drop the case. i was stunned. i couldn't think of a case which is more cut and dry or more of a slam dunk case where all of the evidence was there. hmrc told us they've implemented the most severe sanctions on russia and fined companies for violations. they wouldn't tell us why they dropped the david crisp case, as they don't comment on individual investigations, but the bbc understands there hasn't been a single criminal conviction for breaching trade sanctions since russia invaded ukraine almost three years ago. but mr garofalo took the evidence to a civil court to remove his partner from the company. in the provisional ruling, the judge said the video was compelling evidence that mr crisp knew he was breaching sanctions, and documents showed david crisp tried to conceal sales of more than £1.7 million to russia. if we don't prosecute people,

who the hell is deterred from breaching sanctions? sir iain duncan smith mp says the david crisp case shows that sanctions enforcement is inadequate in britain. we all say, "this is outrageous. "we've got have to sanction these people," and all the rest of it, but then, without any prosecutions, you think "well, that's gone away now". there needs to be arrest, prosecution and incarceration if we're going to get on top of this, and if we don't do that, then there's no such thing as sanctions. in a statement, david crisp told us he refutes the allegations made against him. he says the trade were known to his colleagues. ukrainians are still dying every day at the hands of russia, but experts say some other western businesses continue to trade illegally, making millions in moscow in violation of the law. will vernon, bbc news.

a number of unidentified drones have been seen flying over several british airbases used by the us air force. the incidents involving the unmanned aerial systems took place at three raf sites in the east of england this week. a spokesperson for the us air force declined to say whether the drones were considered hostile, but did go on to say they had the right to protect installations. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. storm bert refuses to relinquish its tight grip across the uk. today, it's all going to be about heavy rain and gale force gusts of winds. and these are some of the rainfall totals we're starting to see now. over the last 36 hours, it's parts of wales that have seen the heaviest of the rain — just shy of 100mm. and it's here where we're likely to see further heavy rainfall as we go through the day today.

in fact, in the last few hours, we've seen some heavier pulses pushing up through the south—west into wales and north—west england. flood warnings are starting to arrive now. there could be some localised flooding before storm bert moves away. the centre of the low starting to hook itself to the north—west of the uk. but that trailing weather front will stay with us throughout the day. it's going to gradually drift its way steadily eastwards, the rain becoming light and patchy through the midlands by lunchtime as the rain heads into east anglia and the south—east. a frequent rash of sharp, squally showers driven by severe gales, though, around the far north and west of scotland. some areas close to the coast could see gusts of wind widely 60 possibly 70mph. but it's a mild story as well. double figures right across the country, 17 or 18 degrees. if we get that, that could be a date record. now, as that rain starts to ease away overnight, things will quieten down for england and wales. but the centre of the low, storm bert, starts to drift

its way across scotland, so here it stays showery and windy through the night. not a cold start to our monday morning, and monday will be a day of mixed fortunes. we keep squally showers and strong winds through scotland and northern ireland. england and wales on the whole will be drier and quieter with some sunshine. just a few scattered showers as the wind turns round to a westerly. and a little bit fresher as well, with that westerly wind — 8—10 degrees the overall high. moving out of monday and looking at a little bit further ahead, bert will finally ease over into scandinavia. little ridge of high pressure quietens things down for tuesday. we will keep a close eye on this front, which could threaten more rain into south—west england and wales, but overall, it's a quieter but slightly cooler story as we go through the week ahead. take care.

live from london. this is bbc news. a last minute compromise deal is reached at the un climate summit —

but while some celebrate, poorer countries say it comes nowhere near addressing their environmental challenges storm bert is continuing to batter parts of the uk for a second day, with wales being badly hit this morning. israel's government says an israeli rabbi missing in the united arab emirates has been found dead. and — max verstappen finishes fifth at the las vegas grand prix — winning his fourth consecutive formula one world title. hello, you're watching bbc news. nearly 200 countries at the un's climate talks in azerbaijan have reached a deal that offers developing countries $300 billion — that's £240 billion — per year by 2035 to help them fight climate change.

negotiators in the country's capital, baku, struck