the business secretary, alok sharma, has said the government will distribute £2.2 billion to councilsenefit 600,000 business premises. speaking at the downing street news conference, he said the government understood how people's jobs and livelihoods were being affected. whilst the economy grew by 15% in the third quarter, it slowed in september, and remains 8.2% below where we were in february. we in government understand acutely the human impact this statistic represents. it is jobs, livelihoods and families affected. so we will continue to support businesses now and as they recover. the government has provided unprecedented levels of support for businesses over the past eight months. to date, that represents over £200 billion in support. this is one of the most generous and comprehensive packages of financial support provided in the world, which the international monetary fund has praised. just this month, we have announced an extension of the self—employed grant scheme to march next year, an extension of the furlough scheme at 80% until the spring, cash grants of up to £3,000 per

the business secretary, alok sharma, has said the government will distribute £2.2 billion to councilsirms forced to close as a result of lockdown measures. mr sharma said it will benefit 600,000 business premises. speaking at the downing street news conference, he said the government understood how people's jobs and livelihoods were being affected. whilst the economy grew by 15% in the third quarter, it slowed in september, and remains 8.2% below where we were in february. we in government understand acutely the human impact this statistic represents. it's jobs, livelihoods and families affected. so we will continue to support businesses now and as they recover. the government has provided unprecedented levels of support for businesses over the past eight months. 00:06:01,901 --> 2147483051:39:45,666 to date, that represents over 2147483051:39:45,666 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 £200 billion in support. month's national restrictions. these will benefit 600,000 business premises. and i can confirm today that we will be distributing £2.2 billion to local authorities tomorrow to allow them t

alok sharma, we are out of time, but thank you. know how damaging they are to our health and the environment. so last year, the government committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. that means the amount of gas produced must be met by the amount removed from the atmosphere. about a third of co2 emissions in the uk come from transport. so to help it meet that commitment the government had already committed to banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars. in february the prime minister said he wanted that ban to come in in 2035 — now we know that plan will be brought forward to 2030. although the sale of some hybrid cars will be allowed a little longer. that five—year acceleration is significant. because at the moment just 7% of cars sold in the uk are battery electric. one of the main obstacles is cost. one of the uk's most popular electric cars, the nissan leaf, costs around £27,000 for a basic model. compare that to a similar five—door hatchback‘s running price on petrol like the dacia sandero — well tha

alok sharma.rime minister's questions next day, the labour leader returned to the money spent by the vaccine task force on pr consultants, accusing the prime minister of having a lax attitude to public money. there's a real question as to how these contracts are being rewarded. about basic transparency and responsibility. and i know prime minister does not like that. this is not the prime minister's money, this is taxpayers money. let me illustrate the lax attitude towards taxpayer money. earlier this year, the government paid about £150 million to a company to deliver facemasks. can the prime minister tell the house how many usable facemasks actually provided, were actually provided to nhs workers in the front lines under that contract? we are under a pandemic in which this government has delivered 32 billion items of personal protective equipment, and yes, it is absolutely correct, mr speaker, that it is necessary to work with the private sector, with manufacturers that provide equipment such as

o'clock this evening there will be a downing street briefing, headed by the business secretary alok sharma the bbc news channel. senior ministers are insisting they remain focused on coronavirus and other key issues — amid infighting at downing street. one of borisjohnson's key aides, lee cain, resigned as director of communications last night after disagreements about his possible promotion. labour and several conservative backbenchers have expressed dismay at the events at the heart of government. 0ur political correspondent chris mason reports. he resigned last night, but lee cain still turned up for work this morning, albeit heading into downing street via the back door. yes, i know, a person you've probably never heard of loses a job you didn't know heard of loses a job you didn't know he had, but office politics in the most political office in the land matters, because it shapes how we are governed. the prime minister has are governed. the prime minister has a strong team around him and all of us, whether it's his advisers or the cabinet, are focused on the big task, which as you say

at five o'clock this afternoon the business secretary alok sharma will give a coronavirus briefing from news channel. just a reminder of this afternoon's headlines. and it has waiting times are at the longest in 12 years,. the uk economy grew by a record amount over the summer, 15 and a half percent, but the economy is still smaller than before the coronavirus pandemic and there are warnings it will slow again. turmoil in downing street. 0ne will slow again. turmoil in downing street. one of the prime minister's closest advisers quit as head of communications in behind the scenes infighting. the coronavirus r number in scotland is "hovering around one and may actually be slightly below one", according to first minister, nicola sturgeon. she said it "suggests some progress has been made in recent weeks" in stopping the spread of the virus, but warned there are still "very significant" regional variations in infections. ms sturgeon was speaking to msps in the scottish parliament. the total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 1,212. that is 6.1% of all tests reported yesterday

business secretary alok sharma there. be one of topic that was raised at this morning as brexit.ery hard to them to cope with the pandemic, lockdown and a no deal on brexit. thank you so much that. well, let's get reaction from one restaurant owner in bristol who is facing closing his doors again to sit—down customers, although he can do takeaways and deliveries. sujith d'almeida is the owner of urban tandoor curry house and joins me now. welcome to bbc news. hello, thank you. i want to know what went you through your mind on saturday when you heard news of the second lockdown? i mean, it would be absolutely devastating for is not the first thing that went to my mind was is this the beginning of many more lockdowns to come? do we have a definite answer? do we know where we stand? definite answer? do we know where we stand ? as definite answer? do we know where we stand? as business owners, we do not have a clue and you just get three orfour have a clue and you just get three or four days notice to close and your restaurant, as we had to do last time, and lost a lot of stock. we p

and in an hour's time the business secretary, alok sharma, will be holding a news conference.t a hospital in chester. to look forward to a bank something to look forward to a long bank holiday weekend to mark the queen's platinum jubilee in 2022. the number of people waiting more than a year for hospital treatment in england has hit its highest level since 2008. patients are meant to be seen within 18 weeks but nearly 140,000 people on the waiting list at the end of september had been waiting over a year. health officials say cutting the number of coronavirus cases is crucial for tackling the backlog. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. stephanie was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer injuly, after finding a suspicious mole. the 43—year—old pharmacist was told she should have surgery in four weeks, but it took nearly three months. waiting for my operation to come round, i did feel alone, i felt scared. depression. anxiety. just not knowing, and not having any contact with anyone, and having to phone the hospital to chase up times, timescales for appointment

speaking at the same conference — business secretary alok sharma defended the government's lockdown decisioning to ta ke regrettable that we are having to take this particular action but this is about safeguarding the nhs and ultimately making sure that we can come out of this the other side. but maccabee bring you up—to—date on the covid—19 numbers. maccabee bring you up—to—date on the covid-19 numbers. a further125 people have died. rob watson. so much to talk about here but the government has itself in a tangle in this policy. it has. i was watching the debate all afternoon in london a bit earlier and watching and absolutely it is hard not to see this as a serious low point for borisjohnson this as a serious low point for boris johnson and his this as a serious low point for borisjohnson and his premiership. a serious moment and in many ways that sort of flavour for the bait that you got that from all those voices sort of shows you exactly why because as you pointed out at the start essentially he was having to admit the previous government policy was a failure, the idea of having local a

business secretary alok sharma said he does not apologise for working rapidly to secure supplies duringrding contracts. speaking to bbc breakfast, he insisted that "checks were done" in the case of a spanish businessman acting as a go—between who was reportedly given £21 million of uk taxpayers' cash. there was huge pressure to get ppe to our front workers. mr sharma, you have said that, £21 billion of public money paid to one individual? asi public money paid to one individual? as i said, my understanding is the department of health did particular checks in that case and it's worth pointing out that all public contracts are disclosed in the appropriate manner at the appropriate manner at the appropriate time. but i think, i go back to this fundamental point, just ta ke back to this fundamental point, just take yourself back to some months ago where there was huge pressure to get ppe. that's what we did. we can speak to our business correspondence now. good morning to you. this story is causing a huge amount of concern about the procedures and processes of government, albeit at a time o

the business secretary, alok sharma, will instead speak at the annual cbi conference — as concerns mount of upcoming restrictions. first, this report from jonathan blake. and so now is the time to take action because there is no alternative. after addressing the nation, boris johnson will today attempt to get mps on board with his plan for a national lockdown in england. the prime minister is expected to again point to stark warnings from scientists that unless the government acts, deaths over the winter could be twice as bad or more than during the first wave of the pandemic. he'll acknowledge labour's view that he should have acted sooner, but defend the system of regional restrictions he has pursued until now. labour's support means the plan is likely to pass when mps vote on it later this week but some conservatives are taking a stand. if these kind of measures were being taken in any totalitarian country around the world, we would be denouncing it as a form of evil. and here, the removal of people's fundamental liberties is going almost without comment. the national lockdown will se

have done this buying, even including the —— concluding the moderna deal today, i pay tribute to alok sharma really good news that we have got some of the moderna vaccine. 0n whether. .. 0n some of the moderna vaccine. 0n whether... 0n the number, the thing is that the moderna vaccine doesn't come on stream until the spring, and so come on stream until the spring, and soiam come on stream until the spring, and so i amjust come on stream until the spring, and so i am just really pleased that we have got those early vaccines that will be available early and we already have the orders of those in. yes, i will follow on from the second question first and say the vaccines task force, we have had to consider a whole range of vaccines. first of all in terms of modality, or mode of action, the type of vaccine, to make sure that we spread oui’ vaccine, to make sure that we spread our bets over the different types that are coming forwards, because, when you start that process, you have no assurance that anything is going to work. secondly, you have to temper that against the likely quantities availabl

business secretary alok sharma has insisted that "checks were done" in the case of a spanish businessman uk taxpayers' cash. there was huge pressure to get ppe to our front line workers... mr sharma, you have said that but £21 million of public money spent, paid to one individual? as i said, dan, my understanding is the department of health did checks in that particular case and, of course, look, it's worth pointing out that all public contracts are disclosed in the appropriate manner at the appropriate time. but i think, i go back to this fundamental point, just take yourself back to some months ago where there was huge pressure to get ppe — and that's what we did. the head of the nao, gareth davies, told our business presenter sima kotecha that it was criticial the government was consistent in explaining why it awarded ppe contracts to certain suppliers. we are very careful to set out the context here, the extraordinary volume of ppe that needed to be procured very fast. everyone except it wouldn't be possible to carry out the normal tender process in every case here, inviting bids and

at five o'clock this afternoon the business secretary alok sharma will give a briefing from downing street accepts. the corporation says it ‘welcomes' the investigations findings and will ‘work even harder to be best in class'. rebecca hilsenrath is ceo of the equality and human and human rights commission.. we just wejust spoke to we just spoke to the head of the fawcett society who said that she didn't expect these findings that the law had been broken. it might've been the case is a further ten cases you looked at, but you didn't carry an investigation and depth further than that. hello, thank you for having me on the programme. i think, obviously i welcome... i think it's important to look beyond the ten cases. we started out looking at 1000. we narrow that to 40 and gave them quite careful consideration. we looked in depth on a deep dive basis at ten of those cases. we carried out a number of interviews with other women and we took evidence from over 100 women through a survey. we took a really forensic and careful approach to what we found and i'm quite confident about the robust evi