andy verity, bbc news. the increase is good news for savers, it means millions of mortgage holders will see their monthly payments rise. our business correspondent theo leggett has been looking at how homeowners could be affected. when interest rates rise, millions of homeowners are affected but not eve ryo ne of homeowners are affected but not everyone will feel the impact straightaway. 46% of people with mortgages are on some form of variable rate. they will bear the brunt of the increase. the 54% on fixed rate deals won't see their costs go up straightaway but they will do eventually when the fix comes to an end. an increase of a quarter of a percent were about £15 per month to a typical £125,000 variable—rate mortgage. that might not sound like much, but for some homeowners it can make a huge difference. people like lynn, the owner of this house. she struggled financially since a car accident stopped her from working. i'm literally living... i wouldn't say on the breadline but very close and any hike in

andy verity, bbc news. with finau is our business editor. this white paper long in the waiting.t can pull. the government sticks in a bit of money for research and development. it asks the academic institutions in a certain area to cluster round it, then they let these different centres to have test—beds for their stuff. in life sciences, that might be accelerated accept and of new drugs by the nhs, which is something they have committed to. for d riverless they have committed to. for driverless cars, it might be using public streets. they put this in place, and then private investment poured in. they would say that this morning's announcement is the industrial action. it needs to work. we learned last week in the budget that things are tough. we learned a couple of things last week, just how difficult the economic challenges are. abysmal productivity and growth. growth downgraded. they are hoping this will cure those economic ills, and you have brexit round the corner. they say they have been working on this for a long time. in the old day, a concerted industrial strategy, they

our economics correspondent andy verity reports.nt he'd made on the other side of the world in bermuda caught up with him. sir, do you have any comments on the paradise papers revelations today? a car took him to the airport and later he and camilla began a visit to india, while supporters at home defended his failure to disclose a shareholding in a company that stood to benefit from his environmental campaigning. on the right here is the late hugh van cutsem, one of the prince's oldest friends. he was a director of sustainable forestry management limited, a firm that managed tropical rainforests registered in bermuda. the company wanted to trade in carbon credits but tropical rainforests were not included in carbon credit trading schemes. so it needed the rules to be changed. in february 2007 the duchy bought 50 shares in van cutsem's company worth $113,500. at that time sfm's directors agreed to keep the duchy‘s shares confidential. mr van cutsem asked for lobbying documents to be sent to the prince's office. and soon the prince w

andy verity, thank you.to be rescued from their homes in parts of cumbria and lancashire last night after heavy rainfall caused flooding. more than 70 people were helped to safety after the emergency services received hundreds of calls. a number of flood warnings are still in place. our correspondent danny savage reports. after hours of heavy rain, the river in galgate near lancaster finally burst its banks last night, causing chaos and misery. people had realised flooding was imminent and tried to get their belongings to safety. itjust came in faster and faster and faster and there came a point where we were bucketing it out, bailing it out. we had pumps going. it came a point where it was bucket versus river and the river won. and it is now like this. i have lifted as much as i can from the ground—floor but there are bikes down there, my cooker‘s gone, my boiler, washing machine, dishwasher, everything. this morning, the water had receded and left a familiar scene of salvage and disposal. the water wasn't

andy verity explains.e, the man who makes predictions about how quickly the economy will grow. before the financial crash, each worker will produce about 2% more than they get before. for years, mr choate expected the growth and productivity to return, but it did not. now he has been forced to admit it will not happen. the basicjudgment we have to make about productivity is what weight do you put on this unusually weak period that we've seen since the financial crisis, and a much stronger period of performance for decades before that? economists really don't know what the explanation for the weak period is. there's a whole variety of things that could have been contributing over time. very low interest rates, weak investment, problems in the financial sector, maybe the output of the economy is being under—measured. but we basically had to take an overall judgment, and we've been more pessimistic than we were back in march. here is the scale of the damage that weak productivity is expected to do to the grow

andy verity, bbc news. so, just to underline.le the increase is good news for savers, it means millions of variable rate mortgage holders will see their monthly payment rise. our business correspondent theo leggett has been looking at the potential impact on homeowners. when interest rates rise, millions of homeowners are affected but not everyone will feel the impact straightaway. 46% of people with mortgages are on some form of variable rate. they will bear the brunt of the increase. the 54% on fixed rate deals won't see their costs go up straightaway, but they will do eventually when the fix comes to an end. an increase of a quarter of a percent were about £15 per month to a typical £125,000 variable—rate mortgage. 0r or £185 0r £185 a year. that might not sound like much, but for some homeowners it can make a huge difference. people like lynn, the owner of this house. she struggled financially since a car accident stopped her from working. i'm literally living... i wouldn't say on the breadline but very close and any hike in

andy verity, bbc news.and follow the latest developments on the bbc news website, lots of background information and explanations as to what it all means there. actress julie walters has actressjulie walters has been made a dame in a ceremony at buckingham palace. she received the honourfrom the queen for services to drama. nearly 35 years after break—out role in the film of educating rita, which brought one of two oscar nominations. she has also had huge success on television, of course, with the collaboration of the mike with the collaboration of the mike with the collaboration of the mike with the late victoria wood. —— with her collaboration with the late victoria wood. we have been steadily tracking some rain moving from west to east, i suspect it will be a pretty wet end to the day in london as the rain gradually continues to drift east, but behind it a clearance that will be important through the night tonight. we keep the cloud and rain, but this little nose of high pressure will allow the winds two

here's andy verity.nd may look exactly as it did the last time interest rates rose, but the economy doesn't. in the ten years since the peak year of the housing and credit bubble, the amount we produce and earn has barely grown and that means we are more vulnerable to inflation. there it is, 0.5%... with unemployment at a 42—year low, inflation running above target and growthjust above its new lower speed limit, the time has come to ease our foot a little off the accelerator. margy sullivan and her husband live in streatham in south london. soon after buying their house in 1988 the interest rate on the mortgage hit 15%. when rates dropped in the noughties, she took an advantage to repay more than she had to. she is now paying less than 2% and can easily cope with the rate rise. money has been cheap for a long time and i'm very aware it could be going up for a long time. i'm surprised it's taken this long for them to do it. paying off while it is cheaper means i have less to pay off now. after last hittin

andy verity is here to talk us through the numbers. ggest influence on this budget. it was robert chote — the man who makes the official predictions about how quickly the economy will grow. before the financial crash each worker would produce about 2% more than they did the year before. for years, mr chote expected that growth in productivity to return, but it didn't. now he's been forced to admit it's not going to happen. the basicjudgment we have to make about productivity is what weight do you put on this unusually weak period that we've seen since the financial crisis, and a much stronger period of performance for decades before that? economists really don't know what the explanation for the weak period is. there's a whole variety of things that could have been contributing over time. very low interest rates, weak investment, problems in the financial sector, maybe the output of the economy is being under—measured. but we basically had to take an overall judgment, and we've been more pessimistic than we were back in march. here is t

here's our economics correspondent andy verity. bermuda. law firm at the heart of the biggest leak in offshore history, appleby, has its head office. the queen is the head of state here but until now we did not know that some of her private money was invested in tax havens like this one. the duchy of lancaster, the private investment vehicle for the queen, put £10 million, a small fraction of its overall investments, in offshore funds with $7.5 million of that in one fund in the cayman islands. in 2007, it was asked to put £350,000 into investment projects including the purchase of two retailers. one was the company that owned threshers that later went bust owning £70 million in tax, and the other was brighthouse, the controversial rent—to—own retailer which was recently forced to compensate a quarter of a million customers. i am pretty furious with those who advise her and that are bringing her reputation into disrepute. it is so obvious that if you are looking after the money of the monarchy, you have got to be cleaner than clean and you

our economics correspondent andy verity is here.ations, what do you focus on? the biggest in terms of its impact is clearly what we found out about the queen and her private money and where it has gone. to put it in perspective, the money is organised through the duchy of lancaster. she is the duke of lancaster. she is the duke of lancaster but she does not have oversight over day—to—day decisions. we are talking about hundreds of millions of pounds, tens of millions which went to offshore funds, one in the cayman islands and one in bermuda —— £10 million. one went into a venture called project bertie, invested into two retailers, such as freshers, which went bust, owing money to the taxpayer, and the other was brighthouse, which was controversial as they were said to be charging inflated rates to the poorest in the country. brighthouse sells goods for a weekly payment rather than upfront amount. it can mean you pay a lot more for it whereas you might pay £644 for a washing machine from john lewis, the same one would cost more than

our business correspondent andy verity is here. -- bbc —— bbc world news. -- bbc world news.of millions of pounds in 2000 in bermuda. we also see in the documents that have been revealed, that he was drawing down payments from it, around £150 million is documented. the thing with the trust is that if you are a wealthy individual you can put your money into it, and so long as you don't have control over it, you don't have to declare attacks, it is supposed to declare attacks, it is supposed to be for the benefit of someone else. but if you remain in the control of payments, the trust structure doesn't work. and the documents explained that the trustees of the trust were concerned about the payments going out without them knowing. one trustee says, i would like to emphasise that it is imperative that at all times trustees know of all transactions prior to them occurring. clearly that wasn't happening, lord ashcroft had that put him and declined to come back. what do you make of the revelations about the queen's private money and how it was invested by the duchy of lancaster? th

people born outside the uk joining the workforce has fallen sharply, as 0ur economics correspondent andy verityed churning outjobs. down but has not stopped churning out jobs. with fewer unemployed workers are claiming a larger slice of the pie with wages edging up. the boys this food manufacturer in west yorkshire are struggling to find enough people to do the work to make their orders. on the factory workforce we are seeing that the labour market is more difficult to get good workers. the number of people classified as unemployed dropped slightly from july to september to la million, a rate of a.3% of the working population, unchanged from last month. the number in work is now estimated at 32.1 million, slightly less than the last count, the first drop in two yea rs. last count, the first drop in two years. the figures today reveal a big change in the supply of labour from outside the uk. last year a30,000 non-uk from outside the uk. last year a30,000 non—uk born workers found work here. this year is just 130 2000. that drop in the supply of labour from abroad has 2000. that drop in the suppl

andy verity, bbc news.respondent robert hall is in saint you're anjersey, robert... jane, the finance industry is of tremendous importance tojersey jane, the finance industry is of tremendous importance to jersey as it is to the other offshore locations we have been hearing about over the last couple of years. cars days. headlines like this in the jersey evening post are not welcome. we've been talking to thejersey government to try and get a response, there's been a written statement from the treatment is to in which he says, jersey does not wa nt in which he says, jersey does not wantan in which he says, jersey does not want an abusive tax avoidance schemes operating in the island, we expect financial services providers to abide by a voluntary code. if necessary they will consider changing the legislation, he says, in order to force companies to abide by that code. my guest represents reform jersey, an opposition reform party in the parliament behind us, what was your reaction when you read this, particul

andy verity reports.t of the biggest leak in offshore history has its head office. the queen is the head of state here but until now we did not know some of her private money was invested in tax havens like this one. the documents reveal the queen ‘s private estate the duchy of lancaster invested £10 million offshore in 2004 and 2005. 5 million offshore in 2004 and 2005. 5 million of it went to a fund in bermuda with another £5 million or seven and a half million dollars to a cayman islands fund. a small part of that investment helped purchase the controversial retailer bright house and 75% of first quench which used to own pressures which went bust owing £70 million in tax. bright house has been accused of exploiting low income families and the financial conduct authorities ordered to pay almost £15 million in compensation to a quarter of a million customers. the duchy says it's only a small stake worth only £3208. the duchy told us that all of oui’ £3208. the duchy told us that all of our investments fu

our economics correspondent, andy verity, is here. but today, labour produced detailed plans of its own. that is right. sajid gig that is right. sajid fa ct facti did fact did we “a 41" facti did - we ; talking in fact it did not. we are talking about the same status quo as we had before 2015. labour's plans, they say they need it on a greater scale, we have not but i“. ‘1111 w the number we need to build demand. the number we need to build is more like 240,000 to meet overall demand. but it is ok for labour in the sense they do not have to put that in their day—to—day spending. they are planning to increase that, john mcdonnell did a speech this morning where he said they would be £17 billion available for public services, most of which will be taken from raising corporation tax. those are two separate issues. investment in housing and higher spending. thank you. russia could be barred from competing in the winter olympics, in february, after the world anti—doping agency said it hadn't done enough to address allegations of widespread

time in a decade to try to deal with the threat of higher inflation. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity bristol—based manufacturer makes high—pressure safety bristol—based manufacturer makes hig h— pressure safety valves bristol—based manufacturer makes high—pressure safety valves used in everything from refrigeration to transport. the raw materials it uses that once passed through bristol's nearby docks have to be bought in foreign currencies, from the euro to the dollar. because of the weaker pound, you need more to buy the same amount of copper to make the valves. we have seen a 37% increase in raw material prices since january of last year. that is a really substantial issue for us. that is about, two thirds of that, is wea kness about, two thirds of that, is weakness of the pound and one third of that is caused by commodity price changes, increases. the company can't risk passing on those higher costs to its customers, saw its profits being squeezed. meanwhile the workers face higher prices on the supermarket shelves. cost of living goes up, cost of things in shops, food etc. we do

andy verity, bbc news. the jersey thejersey government have responded. to abide by a volu nta ry service providers to abide by a voluntary code to say they will not ta ke voluntary code to say they will not take on this kind of business. the allegations will be investigated and we are asking the icij to provide releva nt we are asking the icij to provide relevant documents to support this action. the husband of a british iranian woman jailed in action. the husband of a british iranian womanjailed in iran has urged the foreign secretary, boris johnson, to attract in parliament and error he made in talking about the case. mrjohnson told mps nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe had been training journalists. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe had been trainingjournalists. her nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe had been training journalists. her husband, richard, said she was on holiday. the legal authorities in iran have threatened to increase the five—year sentence imposed on her. victoria will be talking to richard, the husband of the british woman jailed in iran, at10:25am. the prim

andy verity reports. we pay all the taxes we owe.ate has been estimated at 5% internationally. in 2014 ireland announced it would ban companies with no tax residency, that would mean apple needed a tax residency for its lucrative irish subsidiaries, but the paradise papers reveal it sent out a questionnaire courting tax havens. then the jersey questionnaire courting tax havens. then thejersey company reportedly sold back its highly expensive intellectual property rights to its irish division, creating a big cost that can be offset against future profits. apple says it has followed the law, and that the new ownership structure has not lowered its taxes. here's why so many multinational companies want to relocate offshore. in the united states you will pay 35% in corporation tax, in the uk the rate is 19%, and in ireland, if you the rate is 19%, and in ireland, if y°u pay the rate is 19%, and in ireland, if you pay it at all and don't avoid it, 12.5%. in jersey, you pay it at all and don't avoid it, 12.5%. injersey, a big fat zero. the

this is our economics correspondent, andy verity.ailers. 0ne investment projects including the purchase of two retailers. one was the company that owned treasures that went bust, owing £70 million in tax, and the other was bright house, the controversial retailer that was forced recently to a million customers. i am pretty furious with those that advise her and that of bringing the reputation into disrepute. it is so obvious that if you are looking after the money of the monarchy, you have got to be actually cleaner than clean and you must never been near the dirty world of money—laundering, tax avoidance, tax evasion, or actually making money in dubious ways. the duchy told a stock car. the documents also reveal donald trump‘s, secretary wilbur ross has business links with russian allies of president vladimir putin. mr ross has a secret sake in a shipping company called navigator holdings. 0ne a shipping company called navigator holdings. one major client is sibur, in russian energy company. this man, gennady timchenko, or sanctione

andy verity reports.uchy of lancaster, invested £10 million offshore in 2004 and 2005. 5 million of it went to a fund in bermuda, with another £5 million, $7.5 million to a cayman islands fund. a small part of that investment helped purchase the controversial retailer brighthouse and 75% of first quench, which used to own threshers, which went bust owing £70 million in tax. brighthouse has been accused of exploiting low income families and the financial conduct authorities ordered to pay almost £15 million in compensation to a quarter of a million customers. the duchy says it's only a small stake worth only £3208. the duchy told us that all of our investments fully audited and legitimate. ifa if a very wealthy person wants to avoid taxation in britain, and therefore put money into a tax haven somewhere, who loses? schools? hospitals? housing? all those public services lose. and the rest of the population have to pay to cover up the deficit created by that. the documents also reveal that wilbur ross, us co

first time in a decade to deal with the threat of higher inflation. 0ur economics correspondent, andy verity high—pressure safety valves used in everything from refrigeration to transport. the raw materials it uses that once passed through bristol's nearby docks have to be brought in foreign currencies from the euro to the dollar. because of the weaker pound, you need more pounds to buy the same amount of copper to make a valve. we have seen a 30% increase of raw material prices since january last year. that is a really substantial issue for us. it is about two thirds of that is weakness of the pound, one third of that is caused by commodity price changes increases. the company can't risk passing on those higher costs to its customers, so its profits are being squeezed, meanwhile the workers face higher prices on the supermarket shelves. cost of living goes up, cost of things in shops, food etc. we just seem to stay at a certain level. you're not buying as much as you work with the same money before. you are spending more. 3% inflation might not seem too high, but then you see what is drivin

mr ross said there was nothing improper about his investments — as our economics correspondent andy verityory appleby, has its head office. the queen is head of state here but until now, we didn't know that some of her money was invested in tax havens like this. her private estate invested £10 million offshore in 2004 and 2005. 5 million offshore in 2004 and 2005. 5 million went to a fund in bermuda with another 5 million, $7.5 million, to a cayman islands fund. a small part of that investment help to purchase the controversial retailer bright house and 75% of the company that owned the off—licence chain wretches which went bust owing millions in tax. britos has been accused of exploiting low income families and the financial authorities ordered it to pay nearly £50 million in compensation. the duchy says it is now only a small sta ke duchy says it is now only a small stake now only worth £3208. the dodgy told as... —— the duchy told mars. politicians are already getting involved in the information coming from the leaked papers. involved in the information coming from the leaked papersm in

andy verity has more details. upward pressure on prices.es that once passed through bristol's nearby docks have to be brought in foreign currencies from the euro to the dollar. because of the weaker pound, you need more pounds to buy the same amount of copper to make a valve. we have seen a 30% increase of raw material prices since january last year. that is a really substantial issue for us. it is about two thirds of that is weakness of the pound, one third of that is caused by commodity price changes increases. the company can't risk passing on those higher costs to its customers, so its profits are being squeezed, meanwhile the workers face higher prices on the supermarket shelves. cost of living goes up, cost of things in shops, food etc. we just seem to stay at a certain level. you're not buying as much as you were with the same money before. you are spending more. 3% inflation might not seem too high, but then you see what is driving it — food and clothing. and low income households spend more of their money on those items, so they ar

as our economics correspondent andy verity reports, the number of people born outside the uk joiningng a larger slice of the pie, with wages edging up. employers like this food manufacturer in west yorkshire are struggling to find enough people to do the work to make their orders. 0n the factory workforce we are seeing that the labour market tightening and it seems to be more difficult to get good workers. the number of people classified as unemployed dropped slightly from july to september to 1.4 million, a rate of 4.3% of the working population, unchanged from last month. the number in work is now estimated at 32.1 million, slightly less than the last count, the first drop in two years. the figures today reveal a big change in the supply of labour from outside the uk. last year 430,000 non—uk born workers found work here. this year is just 132,000. that drop in the supply of labour from abroad has implications not just for jobs but wages. the drop in non—uk born workers in this latest data is hugely significant, particularly for wages. in 2016, 90% of the increase in employment cam

encouraging firms to embrace new technology and boosting the economy. 0ur economics correspondent andy verityfacturing centre cost millions to design and programme and the car doors they turn that can compete across the world. with britain‘s weak productivity record, innovation like this is very much the exception, not the rule. we‘re looking at how we translate good ideas from academia and take them into industry and if we can utilise that for other sectors including things like infrastructure and construction, i think we have a great opportunity for the future. the government chose a biomedical research institute as the venue for its industrial strategy launch. it includes bigger tax breaks to encourage innovative ideas, re—skilling people with better maths and technical education, investment in infrastructure like 56, improving the business environment through partnerships with environments like life sciences and making places more productive with better transport links. 0n the basis of setting that out in the strategy document, these companies already recognise this is a long—term strateg

here‘s our economics correspondent andy verity. bermuda.private investment vehicle for the queen, put £10 million, a small fraction of the overall investment, in offshore funds with $7.5 million of that in one fund in the cayman islands. in 2007, it was asked to put £350,000 into investment projects including the purchase of two retailers. one was the company that owned threshers that later went bust owning £70 million in tax and the other was brighthouse, the controversial rent—to—own retailer which was recently forced to compensate over a quarter of a million customers. i am pretty furious with those who advise her and that are bringing her reputation into disrepute. it is so obvious that if you are looking after the money of the monarchy, you have got to be cleaner than clean and you must never go near the dirty world of money laundering, tax avoidance, tax evasion or making money in dubious ways. we were told that all of the investments were fully audited and legitimate. the documents also reveal that donald trump‘s commerce secretary,

andy verity, bbc news. more on that with sean through the morning as well.ing to cope with rising demand forfrontline services despite increasing the number of staff in england. that's the warning from health bosses, who say boosting the workforce is not enough to tackle the growing needs of patients. nhs providers voiced their concerns ahead of their annual conference, which gets under way in birmingham today. here's our health correspondent nick triggle. there are now 1 there are now1 million people working in the nhs in england, 6% more than there was three years ago, but nhs providers says it's still not enough. a report by the group that represents health bosses highlights figures showing demand for key services has risen by much more. the number of diagnostic tests has gone up by 19%. ambulance calls by 15%. gp referrals by 11%. and emergency admissions by 10%. in fact nhs providers' director of policy believes the pressure has got so great on staff that patients are at risk. we've got demand for services rising at a rate that's faster than we have sta

andy verity reports.s has campaigned on the environment for decades, and especially for the rainforest. today, he is due to arrive in india, after flying from malaysia, as criticism grew at home of his failure to disclose a secret financial stake in a company in bermuda. on the right here is the late hugh van cutsem, one of the prince's oldest friends. he was a director of sustainable forestry management limited, a firm that managed tropical rainforests, registered in bermuda, the company wanted to trade in carbon credits. but tropical rainforests weren't included in carbon—trading schemes, so it needed the rules changed. in february 2007, the duchy buys 50 shares in van cutsem's company, worth $113,500. at that time, sfm's directors agreed to keep the duchy‘s shares confidential. mr van cutsem asked for lobbying documents to be sent to the prince's office, and soon the prince was making speeches campaigning for changes to two international agreements on carbon credits. injune 2008, duchy sold its shares

our economics correspondent andy verity reports. upward pressure on prices.ed in everything from refrigeration to transport. the raw materials it uses that once passed through bristol's nearby docks have to be brought in foreign currencies from the euro to the dollar. because of the weaker pound, you need more pounds to buy the same amount of copper to make a valve. we have seen a 30% increase of raw material prices since january last year. that is a really substantial issue for us. it is about two thirds of that is weakness of the pound, one third of that is caused by commodity price changes increases. the company can't risk passing on those higher costs to its customers, so its profits are being squeezed, meanwhile the workers face higher prices on the supermarket shelves. cost of living goes up, cost of things in shops, food etc. we just seem to stay at a certain level. you're not buying as much as you work with the same money before. you are spending more. 3% inflation might not seem too high, but then you see what is driving it — food and clothing. and l

our economics correspondent andy verity reports. and if we can utilise that now for other sectors, including things like infrastructure and construction, i think we have a great opportunity for the future. the government chose a biomedical research institute as the venue for its launch. it includes bigger tax tax breaks, rhys killing people with months, improving the business environment through partnerships like life sciences and making places more productive with better transport links. on the basis of setting this out, these companies already recognise this is a long—term strategy, have confidence in itand long—term strategy, have confidence in it and are making big investment decisions today that create a good jobs across the country. low-tech, low—wage companies where productivity is weakest and the new announcement today is split over three years. compared to total government spending of 780 billion and it is a small fraction. when they talk of industrial strategy the focus on the high—tech sectors like automotive sector, wher

andy verity reports.cial the rainforest and today he is due to arrive in india as criticism grew at home of his failure to disclose a secret financial stake in the company in bermuda. 0n the right is one of the prince's oldest friends who was a director of act—mac sustainable forestry management limited. the managed tropical rainforest, managed in bermuda. tropical rainforest were not included in carbon credit trading schemes so it needed rules change. in february 2007 the dutch bought shares in the company —— the duchy. they agreed to keep this confidential. soon the prince was making speeches campaigning for changes to international agreements on carbon credits. injune 2008 the duchy sold its shares for a profit of more than 200,000.|j duchy sold its shares for a profit of more than 200,000. i think it's a serious conflict of interest between his own investments and what he is trying to achieve publicly. clarence house said... there is no suggestion of illegality or law that his campaigning cause the sh

andy verity is here.e, for the first time for years that i can remember the total number of people in work has dropped. it has been rising and hitting a record every time these numbers come out, but now, it has dropped by 111,000 tojust numbers come out, but now, it has dropped by 111,000 to just over 32 million. it is still a huge workforce. still more than we had last year or six months ago, but the fa ct last year or six months ago, but the fact that it seems to have turned the corner is interesting and we have had some good news on productivity. that had been falling. the amount we produce per hour or per worker, but now we have had news injuly to per worker, but now we have had news in july to september per worker, but now we have had news injuly to september it rose by 0.9%. that's good news for the chancellor in the forthcoming budget in the sense that he can anticipate that if we are producing more, we might be paid more and that it will mean more tax coming in. thank you. sport now and here is wi

with me is our economics correspondent andy verity.will do the conservative spending restrictions on public services. that was quite hard for public services. —— they established a recommendation of prudence —— they sought to establish a reputation for prudence. this is a big break. john mcdonald says 76 billion, the tories giving that awaited corporations and the rich, do we know how he has got that figure? we do. encouraging companies to invest more, more private investment means more private investment means more private growth, you will get more taxes, but there is some dispute over that, labour is saying, no, taxes, but there is some dispute overthat, labour is saying, no, if you cut corporation tax, the taxpayer is giving away money, that means the money must come from the rest of us. instead of giving away £16.5 billion a year in corporation tax, if the government kept that money and spend it on public services, you would have 70 billion plus to spend on the nhs and other things. one of the big things at the moment, tax avoidanc

here's our economics correspondent andy verity. bermuda.at the heart of the biggest leak in offshore history, appleby, has its head office. the queen is the head of state here but until now we did not know that some of her private money was invested in tax havens like this one. the duchy of lancaster, the private investment vehicle for the queen, put £10 million, a small fraction of its overall investments, in offshore funds with $7.5 million of that in one fund in the cayman islands. in 2007, it was asked to put £350,000 into investment projects including the purchase of two retailers. one was the company that owned threshers that later went bust owning £70 million in tax, and the other was brighthouse, the controversial rent—to—own retailer which was recently forced to compensate a quarter of a million customers. i am pretty furious with those who advise her and that are bringing her reputation into disrepute. it is so obvious that if you are looking after the money of the monarchy, you have got to be cleaner than clean and you must never

andy verity reports.charles has campaigned on the environment for decades and especially for the rainforest. today, he is due to arrive in india, after flying from malaysia, as criticism grew at home of his failure to disclose a secret financial stake in a company in bermuda. on the right here is the late hugh van cutsem, one of the prince's oldest friends. he was a director of sustainable forestry management limited, a firm that managed tropical rainforests, registered in bermuda. the company wanted to trade in carbon credits, but tropical rainforests weren't included in carbon credit trading schemes so it needed the rules changed. in february 2007, the duchy bought 50 shares in van cutsem's company worth $113,500. at that time, sfm's directors agreed to keep the duchy‘s shares confidential. mr van cutsem asked for lobbying documents to be sent to the prince's office and soon the prince was making speeches campaigning for changes to two international agreements on carbon credits. injune 2008, the duchy s

our economics correspondent andy verity reports. declare a shareholding in a company that stood to benefit from its environmental campaigning. on the right care and smack on the right, a director of sustainable forestry management limited. the company wanted to trade in carbon credits, but tropical rainforests we re credits, but tropical rainforests were not included in carbon credit training schemes, so it needed to have the rules changed. in february 2017, the duchy bought 50 shares in his company. at that time, sfm's directors agreed to keep the shares confidential. soon, the prince was making speeches campaigning for changes to two international agreements on carbon credits. in june 2008, international agreements on carbon credits. injune 2008, the duchess sold its shares for $325,000, a profit of more than 200,000 dollars. there is potential conflict of interest if on the one hand the duchy of cornwall is making profits oi'i duchy of cornwall is making profits on investments in one sector, and on the other, the prince of wales

our economics correspondent andy verity is outside the ifs in central london.ctions the chancellor gave, really. yes, the acceptance by the office for budget responsibility that we are not getting the growth in productivity that we used to, productivity being the amount we each produce each hour, used to grow 296 each produce each hour, used to grow 2% each year, but in the last ten yea rs 2% each year, but in the last ten years that has not been happening and the visual prediction has been it would recover to where it used to grow but now there has been an a cce pta nce grow but now there has been an acceptance that it won't —— and the official prediction. employees cannot be paid a pay rise above inflation each year and that means a long squeeze on living standards, longer we have seen. as pauljohnson from the ifs told me. the squeeze on living standards over the decade so far is historically unprecedented. what's remarkable is it looks like we have got at least another five years to go before we get anywhere near to having earnings back where they were in 20