helen whately. joining me now is our political correspondent matt cole.nts that this is a u—turn, a change of policy. the gunmen had said earlier this week this was in the mix. their strategy paper did flight that this was a possibility. there is a sense that the government yesterday saying that scientifically this wouldn't necessarily help stop the spread isn't inconsistent with them now saying they want to ease pressure on emergency services. i guess it would ta ke emergency services. i guess it would take the example of a hundred or so cases at the start of the week, he would probably would not need extra ambulances and police officers, emergency services to help deal with that. if in a week or so time when this kid coming could be, we are pushing towards a thousand, doubling day dot the intensive confirmed cases. if you have got the professional football clu bs, if you have got the professional football clubs, 92 ambulances on standby, freed back into the system? i think the government would say it is not inconsistent that the questions that we have f

here's minister helen whately on that. the rules but unfortunately, not everybody has thatis unfortunately, not everybody has that is what the reasons why we have seen an increase in the rates again and it is really clear and simple why there is a rule of six and if you have symptoms, get tested and if you have symptoms, get tested and if you test positive, test and trace community to self—isolate. it is really clear. and of course with every new rule that needs enforcing — comes more pressure on the police. here's the police federation again. confined to their halls of residence. parents during the emergency food crops, no face—to—face learning and weeks cancelled. this is not how this is supposed to be for thousands of stu d e nts supposed to be for thousands of students across the uk. it's going to ta ke students across the uk. it's going to take some getting used to and so, they are in a unique situation of what can you do come on we have no choice. two hours in birmingham to deliver a speech because we cannot get anyt

speaking this morning, the conservative minister helen whately called the number of migrants crossingng' development. we are seeing an unacceptable number of migrants coming across the channel at the moment. it's a worrying situation, in fact. it's a dangerous journey to take, and it also involves migrants paying people smugglers to take them across. we need to bring this to an end. the home secretary is determined that this shall not be a viable route to the uk. and my colleague, home office minister chris philp, is going to be in paris later this week to talk directly with the french government about working together to stop this transit. the mp for calais, pierre—henri dumont, says the french are already doing a lot to stop migrants making the crossing and questioned what support the royal navy could offer. my question is, what for? if a small boat full of migrants is entering the british waters, is the british navy going to shoot at them? is the british navy trying to impede them entering british waters? that is totally against the law of the sea. you know, the moral duty of every

this morning bbc breakfast spoke to the care minister, helen whately, and asked her about the suggestionsy has changed. well, we're following the evidence and what i will say is that as the chief medical officer said and i have been advised, that the evidence tells us that stopping mass gatherings does not have a huge impact on the spread of the virus, but, for example, the decision has been taken in some countries because of the impact on public services and because when you have a mass gathering, that draws on the police and the ambulance service who need to support it. but the important thing is that all the way through, we are taking the right steps at the right time to best protect the population, drawing on the scientific advice and the guidance of experts. so, to be clear, we can expect an announcement on mass gatherings within days? i don't think i should... i have given you my response on the question of mass gatherings, but i just want to say, one of the things we have seen is that in general, you try to give people advance notice, so if we look at last week, there were some con

virtual meeting this morning between greater manchester mps and the health and social care minister helen whatelywell, the government had managed to unite all city against them, conservative and mps opposing a move into tier three. if that goes ahead without local support, then local —— why some people are suggesting that unless the public and local authorities buy m, the public and local authorities buy in, it may not be something to drive down the virus, and that is something that will be concentrating minds in downing street this afternoon. iain watson there in westminster. and wherever you are across the uk, if you want to check the rules in your area now, you can search by postcode. that's on our website, bbc.co.uk/news, or via the bbc news app. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has said the restrictions on household gatherings will remain in place as the country is at what she called a "critical and precarious point" in the pandemic. she's announced that face coverings will be mandatory from tomorrow in workplace canteens and corridors. the first minister said 286 cases in scotlan

during an interview with the bbc, these concerns were put the government minister helen whately.ince the introduction of that policy. and ido the introduction of that policy. and i do hope the people we are watching listening today, and anyone planning a night out this week will think, actually, i really get it, i realise that it might seem like a fun thing to do to keep on partying, it doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. while that issue remains live — let's look at the figures. more than 4,000 new infections were recorded in the latest 24—hour period. wihle the average number of new daily cases in the past week is over 5,000. in the past 2a hours, another 13 deaths have been recorded — down from 17 on sunday. some of the current covid hotspots are in the north—east of england. and that's led health secretary matt hancock to make this announcement earlier. u nfortu nately unfortunately the number of cases continues to rise sharply stop the incident right across the area is 110w incident right across the area is now over 100 cases per 100,000. we know a large number of thes

helen whately there.day night at 11pm for another round up of the day here at westminster, including the highlights from prime minister's questions. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello, we've got some real contrast in terms of the temperature north and south across the british isles in the next day or so. england and wales on wednesday, we keep the cloudy and mild feel to things, but some outbreaks of rain, rather grey conditions there. for scotland and northern ireland, clear skies, a cold start with some frost and the risk of patchy ice. a little bit of sunshine and showers on wednesday. so the dividing line between those weather types is this weather front here. it's going to be slowly sinking its way south. out of that we keep a fair amount of cloud across england and wales. rain initially for north wales and northern england will slowly sink south, but becoming fairly light and patchy as moves into the midlands and the south—west of england into the afternoon. to the north of that, a

helen whately thank you for talking to us.tic final day in the premier league as aston villa survived the drop but both bournemouth and watford were relegated to the championship. a 1—1 draw at west ham ended being enough to keep villa in the top flight — local hero and captainjack grealish with their goal. they stayed up after watford lost at arsenal. and although eddie howe's bournemouth managed to beat everton 3—1, it wasn't enough to save them. my my condolences go out to watford and eddie, obviously, at bournemouth and ican eddie, obviously, at bournemouth and i can only think how they feel now but eddie is a fantastic manager and fantastic coach and a good person who has done unbelievable with bournemouth so too out of the three that were going so my condolences go to them but proud of the magnificent achievement by aston villa. gracious from dean smith there. at the other end of the table, manchester united and chelsea were the big winners as they finished in the top four, guaranteeing champions league football next sea

helen whately, thank you for your time this morning. helen whately, who is the care minister.hat is the data out there? the fact remains that many, out there? the fact remains that any out there? the fact remains that many, many people, some of whom we've have reflected on this one, who have genuine concerns about loved ones in vulnerable situations. the simple question is, if we are not able to help them, who will? and that remains out there in the way. not a complete answer for that, was the? we are going to try and answer your questions. please get in touch with us and we'll try our best to get through them. we can take a look at the papers now. the lawyer and businesswoman funke abimbola is here to tell us what's caught her eye. good morning. where were you take us first? people trying to make money out of what is going on at the moment. there is always someone someone moment. there is always someone someone trying to take advantage and unfortunate we are now seeing a new fishing exercise, which is when fraudsters try to get information on the wrong way and they can use it

this morning, helen whately, the health minister, was saying that at the weekend, they tested 7000.retty disappointing, it has to be said, because earlier we had been led to believe that michael gove that it would be nearer 10,000. we are quite a way of what they are doing in germany where they plan to test around half a million per week. there is also ongoing questions about pp equipment, protective equipment, stories and some papers of more care homes and hospitals not quite getting the resources they need although helen whately stressed this morning that millions of kit is being sent out. it is essential that those at the front line across health and social have the pp that they need —— the ppe that they need when they do close contact activities, it's imperative, we have been working very hard on that. 170 million items of ppe have gone across the nhs and care provider, every registered care provider including over 25 million masks, so a huge effort. it is a logistical exercise to get the stocks to the front line when there has suddenly beena front line when there has suddenly b

and minister helen whately has conceded that that may have to be looked at, it was only introduced last leader in redbridge, a local burell there, saying that there needs to be tougher restrictions in the capital because of people mixing in each other‘s households, that testing capacity has been taken out of london to move to hotspots in other parts of england, and actually, the stated figures each day may be under representing what is really going on. and at a national level, at westminster, this debate going on about whether the government should do more to help the economy and not go further, with more restrictions, 01’ go further, with more restrictions, or whether more restrictions are needed simply to try to keep a lid on the virus. the 10pm pub and bar closure plan wasn't specifically modelled by government advisers on the sage emergency committee, so that has been criticised because it wasn't a measure that necessarily had been looked at before. so, a lot of compromises, tensions, debate, again, over keeping the economy going and making sure that people's health is prioritised a

we will be speaking to the uk minister helen whately in about ten minutes' time. tals, what we know isa beginning in hospitals, what we know is a large number of practices over the last few weeks have had very shortstaffed because the staff have had covid or were self—isolating. i would like to know when this will be extended to all sectors of the healthcare service because all of us are playing a part in trying to combat the disease. professor goddard, are you beginning to see a comeback in people coming back to service? no, i knowa lot comeback in people coming back to service? no, i know a lot of collea g u es service? no, i know a lot of colleagues of mine have stepped back and want to come back in, i am looking forward to that but we should see that in the next week or two. we need to get them up to speed because people will be a little bit rusty. they will need some of skilling but there are lots of processes in place in which hospitals at the moment however that so it's we shouldn't —— so it shouldn't take so long to get that upskilling. doctor nagpaul, scot

helen whately, ca re they catch the virus.e. that's right. they had a massive meeting yesterday in which they admitted some of the league simply will not be able to finish. they have said that for the first time, that some of the leagues will definitely be cancelled this season. i want to speak to you about the dutch league. something incredible might happen there. the dutch fa said it did not intend to finish the top division there, after a ban on major events in the country was extended to the 1st of september. there are two sides level at the top of the table — az alkmaar drew level with ajax shortly before the league was suspended, with ajax only ahead on goal difference. so giving them the title now would surely have repercussions. some of the european leagues are making plans to finish off their campaigns. the italian fa say their top division could resume in late may. in spain, the government says training could begin earlyjune but germany appear to be further ahead, with the possibility of bundesliga matches being play

albeit, the cannons for helen whately this morning was defending the priority she said.y part as the care minister, and working with the department of health and social care, local authorities and those thousands of care providers and their representatives, we have been working really hard to do whatever we can to protect those receiving care from this truly awful, horrible illness that is hitting the whole world and bringing the whole world to a standstill. a further complication when it comes to testing and care homes is that ca re to testing and care homes is that care providers want their staff to be able to do the testing in the homes. what they don't want is yet more people going into care home to carry out testing which of course carries with it the risk of infection and how viral that is we simply don't know. one other element which has been is on the numbers. the figures on death tolls in care homes are something like two weeks in arrears. only published weekly. yesterday we had a promise from the medical director of public health england that they would try and

we will be speaking with the care minister, helen whately, at 7:30am.country's finances. now we've had some of the first actual forecasts and the numbers are pretty shocking. good morning. yes. you only have to look out of your window this morning or go on your allocated walk or trip to the shop and seeing how eerily quiet things are and realise obviously there's going to be an impact on the economy. but the newspapers today showjust how bad these latest predictions are. the sun goes with lockdown meltdown. the middle marker is recovery from the wall street crash in the 20s — you can see there hasn't been a negative impact of this scale since 1709 — more than 300 years. yesterday the chancellor rishi sunak was quick to point out that there are a series of ifs in reaching this conclusion — this isjust one scenario, not a forecast or prediction. the office for budget responsibility — an independent group of economists that keeps an eye on government figures — said that if the current lockdown—style measures go on for three months, our economic output — so

helen whately, care minister, thank you for your time. thank you.nicholas and now collin morikawa. no pressure on him, then, to deliver later on in his career. he was playing in only his second major — but he battled his way to the top of a packed leaderboard in san francisco. at one point there was a seven—way tie at the top, but he produced a flawless final round of 64 to finish two shots clear of a group including england's paul casey. morikawa said he was on "cloud nine". the wait goes on for paul casey. there was an unexpected winner at the 70th anniversary grand prix at silverstone — and all because of the tyres. max verstappen was warned by his red bull team to go easy but he told them he was "not backing off and driving like a grandma", and the two mercedes tore their tyres to shreds. lewis hamilton still leads the championship by 30 points afterfinishing second, ahead of valtteri bottas. rangers have two wins out of two in the scottish premiership, after beating st mirren 3—0. but champions celtic dropped points, drawing 1—1 at kilmarnock —

the ministerfor health and social care helen whately told bbc breakfast this morning that an announcementeatest, if not the greatest health challenge if not the greatest, health challenge that we face as a country. half of adults are overweight, one in five children leaving primary school are obese. and obesity brings with it a host of health challenges and very particularly with covid, you are at greater risk of getting covid, greater risk of complications, greater risk, very sadly, of dying from covid if you are overweight. so, as it is such an important health challenge, we have to take it on and the prime minister is committed to making sure that we tackle obesity and we help people live healthy lives. as health and social care minister, do you think it is a good idea to ban such adverts, such junk food adverts, pre—watershed? i am not going to talk about the specific details... i'm not asking you to, i'm asking you if you think it is a good idea. and there will be an announcement on this coming shortly. the department of health has been consulting on the best way to protect children,

helen whately is the culture minister — she's in our wetminster studio. good morning.ot use credit cards to gamble, essentially they are going to high street gambling shops, it will cut out a big sector of this business? i don't see a that way, but this is about making gambling safer. if people are just going to place a bet for a bit of fun, so people should be able to do that, the evidence shows us that gambling with credit cards can be particularly harmful and risky and people are more likely to become problem gamblers where gambling is really damaging somebody‘s life, they can be getting into debt, that is why we are intervening to ban gambling on credit card specifically, to make gambling safer. because with credit cards people can incur very large interest charges and said that starting the crew? is this enough to really deal with the problem of people will focus their betting on high street shops? that seems to be the logical conclusion of what you are doing. is it easier to regulate the high—street industry as opposed to online betting? the ban apply very broadl

testing to people in ca re that additional testing to people in care homes, albeit a care minister, helen whatelyd prioritised care homes. our message to them is we are doing and we have been doing everything we can to protect those really vulnerable people who are living in ca re vulnerable people who are living in care homes or receiving care at home. we know those are some of the most vulnerable in our society, and from that moment it looks like coronavirus was coming our way, on my part as the care minister, and working with the department of health and social care, local authorities and those thousands of ca re authorities and those thousands of care providers and their representatives, we have been working really hard to do whatever we can to protect those receiving ca re we can to protect those receiving care from this truly awful, horrible illness. it is hitting the whole world and bringing the whole world toa world and bringing the whole world to a standstill. elsewhere, some slightly more encouraging news on the issue of numbers, you remember the centre of the debate over care homes is

the region's mps were invited to a meeting last night with the minister helen whately and some mps emergingsome of the ideas that were being floated last night were to restrict pubs to only being able to sell you a drink if you buy food, or maybe even ensuring that pubs and restau ra nts even ensuring that pubs and restaurants only served takeaway is rather than you going in and sitting down. none of this is nailed down yet. the announcement is expected later this morning but we have had an insight into the government's thinking about all of this from the environment secretary. the evidence shows that once the disease gets past a tipping point, we talk about the r value, the infection rate, it is now about 1.5 across the country which means there isa across the country which means there is a velocity to this virus and once it gets going, then you need to take action to try to dampen it, otherwise itjust rises exponentially, and that is what happens. there can be a range of factors that contribute to the virus getting above that tipping point in a particular city, and then you need to act fa

think that view will be shared by some conservative mps as well, and earlier, the care minister, helen whatelyw measures were simply taking some time to bed in. she was also asked, of course, about the scale of the fines being imposed on people and she said this is all really about greater clarity. while the majority of people have been following the rules, we know that not everybody has, and that is why we have been seeing the increase in the rates again, and it is really clear, really simple, whether it is the rule of six, or if you have symptoms, get positive, isolate, get contacted by test and trace, you need to self—isolate, this is really clear. on the 10pm curfew, the mayor of greater manchester was on the radio this morning saying that he thought it was doing more harm than good, and the times is reporting today that for much of northern britain as it puts it, and for parts of london, there could potentially bea of london, there could potentially be a two—week lockdown, meaning bars, pubs and restaurants would shut altogether. any truth in that as far as you know, iain? not as such, bu

that was pretty much what we heard from helen whately this morning. planning holidays, looking at going abroad, i realise it's really hard. look at the foreign office advice, check your travel insurance, check the conditions from the tour operator, and we have to be mindful we are in and we have to be mindful we are in a situation of a global pandemic. we have to continue to keep the situation under review. we put in place the travel corridors so that it would be easier for people to go on holiday, recognising that people wanted to go on holiday overseas, but what we said when we put that policy in place was that we would have to keep the situation under review, as we have done in spain, we have ta ken the review, as we have done in spain, we have taken the action which was the right thing to do because we have to put the public health of the united kingdom in the country first. of course, the impact on those affected who are now on holiday in spain and having to come back to quarantine for 14 days, is enormous. they will have to hope their employers

is announcements for the liverpool city region, i know mps from the city met the care minister, helen whatelyon what is likely to happen. so, pretty significant restrictions coming on merseyside. there is also talk privately this morning of introducing a new tear in system, charlie, to make it easier for us to understand in england, frankly, what the rules are where we live. potentially having one, two, three tiers on the most of europe wa nt to three tiers on the most of europe want to be leased to be at three, explaining how we have to live our lives does make the least severe at three. —— the least severe at three. we will be speaking after 7am to get more information on those. and one new law coming through to do with plastic straws and stirrers. tell us about that? that is a law kicking in today, meaning these beings become illegal. plastic straws. they, well, have never been far from our lives for yea rs never been far from our lives for years and years. the government wa nts years and years. the government wants rid of them. it announced the bad some —— ban some time ago. the idea is t

the health and social care minister helen whately says the priority is to get children back to schoolhave is, on the one hand, very low transmission and, also, the risks to children from covid are very low. so absolutely it is safe for children to be back in schools. our national priorities to get children back in school this autumn. although parents and teachers made huge efforts to keep children's education going during the lockdown period, it'sjust not the same thing as children being in school. geoff barton is the head of the teachers' union, the association of school and college leaders. thank you forjoining us. are you convinced, at this point? we are definitely convinced about the lower risk rates for children and young people in terms of transmission between them and also with adults and school. that's really not the argument. we are expecting all children will be able to go back to school when term starts on the next few weeks. what we are saying is that what we also know is that that movement of young people through the community is likely to lead to increased virus infectio

helen whately says this will bea people. helen whately says this will be a pilot.24 hours. so far, i don't think ma ny test in 24 hours. so far, i don't think many test results have been coming backin many test results have been coming back in without that short timescale. 0r back in without that short timescale. or as we all know, this disease and infection rate can spread very quickly indeed. 0ne disease and infection rate can spread very quickly indeed. one day you can test negative, the next day you can test negative, the next day you could test positive. so as soon as we can get the test results back ina timely as we can get the test results back in a timely fashion, that would be a great help indeed. also, if the relatives wore full ppe, that would bea relatives wore full ppe, that would be a help and of course, we would look at this on a risk assessment basis as to the personal care that will be given because it will be on an individual basis who will come in to visit the resident within care facility. and how that will be managed. brendan, you've been throu

helen whately, thank you. coming up to 7.45.t old trafford. he's in the squad, after being dropped for the second test, for leaving the players' covid—19, bio—bubble. he said, he wasn't sure he'd be 100% mentally, ready to play, after receiving racist abuse, on social media. now if you're in the birmingham area, and the ground shook, about an hour ago, it could have been bbc boxing pundit, steve bunce, reacting to the incredible news, that the former heavyweight world champion, mike tyson, will be returning to the ring in september at the age of 54. he'll fight an exhibition bout, against another former champion, royjones junior, who himself is 51 — and bunce said there were definite safety concerns. i've personally fairfor i've personally fair for the toua. i will tell you why. they are both to braver their own good. there are a lot of people, especially in california, the athletic commission, they sanctified, they say it's ok, they sanctified, they say it's ok, they have given me the way that they won't hurt each other. they a

the care minister helen whately says nobody wants to see tighter restrictions but it's necessary to tackleace, you need to self—isolate. this is really clear. it's thought around 3,000 students in the uk are currently in lockdown at universities from dundee to exeter. but two have been badly affected. at the university of glasgow, 172 students have tested positive, and 600 are isolating. at manchester metropolitan university, all first year and foundation students will be taught exclusively online for the next two weeks, to try to stop a coronavirus outbreak from spreading. 1,700 freshers are self—isolating in halls of residence there, after 127 tested positive. labour has called on ministers to consider pausing the return of students whose terms are yet to start. john mcmanus has the latest. spelling it out. the message from fee—paying students in manchester is clear. as the academic year begins, thousands of them around the uk have been sold to self—isolate. it's an unwelcome start for those who'd been dreaming of living independently, away from home. manchester metropolitan university s

we will be talking to helen whately, became minister about that in about 20 minutes.could‘ve asked me the same questions — four years ago i had to litigate this and talk about it. uh, totally fake news, no. sir david attenborough has revealed he spent much of lockdown sitting in his garden and "listening to birds." you have been talking to him? he has been speaking to us exclusively on the first. ——on breakfast. he discussed his fears for the planet — his hopes for the future — and joining instagram. it‘s ahead of the release of a book and documentary both titled "a life on our planet". he told us he worried about others during lockdown, and realised he‘d been more fortunate than most. i can't plead about time. i've been of when i was newly married, with a couple of kids in a flat with just two rooms and no garden and thinking what it would be like at the thought of the oncoming autumn and winter that was going to be ahead of us, having already been locked away for six months. that seems to me a pretty tough number. i know it is inevitable. i know it has to happen. an