damian grammaticas. just a reminder— has to abide by. damian grammaticas.r of these evenings - just a reminder of these evenings headlines. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, welcomes victory in the batley and spen by—election. the party won by just 323 votes. the case is to be dropped against two former soldiers facing murder charges from northern ireland's troubles, including from bloody sunday in 1972. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has said she expects people from britain who are fully vaccinated will soon be able to travel to germany without having to quarantine on arrival. cabinet office minister michael gove and his journalist wife sarah vine have "agreed to separate", according to the couple's spokesperson. the pair married in 2001 and have two children. the couple have released a statement, as our political correspondent jonathan blake explains. joint statement from michael gove and his wife, sarah vining, was released by the press association news agency in the last few minutes. i'll read you what it has to say in full. it's relatively sh

damian grammaticas, reporting from - grammaticas, reporting from westminster.is not about _ what he had to say. today is about headlines, is not about public - headlines, is not about public health. the prime minister has said health. the prime minister has said he will be driven by the data, not by dates. he doesn't have the data yet. he won't have the data until later this week, so he is not in a position to take a decision until next monday, so you have to wonder what today's announcement is about, and i think it's about party management rather than public interest. we all want the restrictions to be lifted, and we are going to have to find a way of living with the virus, but that can't just living with the virus, but that can'tjust be a sound bite. we need a proper plan, and to throw full protection is at the same time, when the infection rate is still going up, is reckless. we need a balanced approach. we need to keep key protections in place including masks, ventilation and crucially, something we have been asking for throughout the pandemic, proper payme

damian grammaticas, bbc news.eak to our political correspondent, jonathan blake. important hints is not a formal announcement this morning. people won't have to isolate if they have come into contact with someone testing positive for covid—19 if they have been double vaccinated. if this is announced, how significant would it be? it this is announced, how significant would it be?— would it be? it is a significant chance would it be? it is a significant change in _ would it be? it is a significant change in the _ would it be? it is a significant change in the government - would it be? it is a significant - change in the government approach to containing the spread of coronavirus and it is in line with what the prime minister set out yesterday which is a political choice, a decision on his part and the government to go ahead with the lifting of all legal restrictions in england onjuly lifting of all legal restrictions in england on july the 19th. lifting of all legal restrictions in england onjuly the 19th. the role

here's our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. will hospitals be able to cope? the prime minister is contemplating taking, his desire to remove all covid restrictions across england just as infections are rising fast again. but borisjohnson believes relaxing curbs now in the summer is preferable. waiting could be worse. we run the risk of either opening up at a very difficult time when the virus has an edge, has an advantage, in the colder months, oragain, putting everything off to to next year. so i do think it's going to be a very balanced decision. what he envisages is no more social distancing. no limits on how many can visit your home, or how many can pack restaurants, bars and pubs. theatres, nightclubs, sports stadiums all open and full. no more empty offices, as the requirement to work from home would end too. but there's a concern a third wave of covid is under way, with an average of more than 25,000 cases a day in the past week, and the number infected is doubling roughly every nine days. his own chief scientific adviser said now is the time to be con

. _ 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas is in westminster. like at the end of an error. ., politically like at the end of an error. . ., . . ., error. that little royal chit chat about the _ error. that little royal chit chat about the history. _ error. that little royal chit chat about the history. this - error. that little royal chit chat about the history. this is - error. that little royal chit chat about the history. this is the l error. that little royal chit chat i about the history. this is the last visit of angela merkel as chancellor, i think it is 16 years she's been making these visits, multiple prime ministers come and this is her last one. i think part of the reason why she was afforded both the meeting will borisjohnson and then went to meet the queen. but really the substance was in the meeting with borisjohnson. quite a few different areas there, you touched on northern ireland. i think the message for them was pretty straight from angela merkel, that essentially what she was saying was that when the brexit deal was negotiate

d as our political correspondent damian grammaticas explains, the chancellor's visit spells the end of these visits. multiple prime ministers and this is her last one. that is why she was afforded both the meeting with borisjohnson and then went to meet the queen. but really, the substance was in the meeting with borisjohnson and quite a few different areas there. you touched on northern ireland. i think the message on northern ireland was pretty straight from angela merkel, essentially what she was saying was that when the brexit deal was negotiated, borisjohnson was on one side and she was on the other side. 0bviously, side and she was on the other side. obviously, it was all done through the eu, but what was negotiated was an agreement overseen by boris johnson with special arrangements for northern ireland and she was saying that has to be implemented. she said there can be problematic solutions within it, but there was no sign there of any sense that germany thinks they can be any renegotiation of that. in fact, it is an international treaty the uk has to abide by was the mess she

damian grammaticas, bbc news.tion intended to tackle what ministers describe as a "broken asylum system", is being introduced to parliament today. the home office says the bill will help prevent people who've passed through a safe country claiming asylum in the uk. refugee campaigners warn that thousands of people who are currently given asylum will be turned away in the future. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has this report. until the pandemic stroke last year, the number of people claiming asylum in the uk had doubled since 2010. if you look back over the last two decades, the number of applicants was still less than half what it was 20 years ago. and the figure, including dependents, is significantly low the numbers in germany, france, spain and greece. the pandemic also triggered a change in how people try to get to britain. the number crossing the channel in small boats rose sharply. it was 8500 last year. it is heading for an even greater number this year. the home secretary, priti patel, say

let's begin our coverage with this report from our correspondent damian grammaticas, he's in the stateuction is becoming clear. countless numbers of people have lost everything. and the region's infrastructure has been torn apart. the roads and bridges have been destroyed, and there are still areas without basic amenities. translation: there is neither electricity nor drinking water. l i don't know what to say. i must stop to take a break now and then and talk to people — otherwise i'll go crazy. within the space of two days, two large states were hit by more rainfall than they usually get into months, causing the region's many rivers to burst their banks. —— in two months. in the village of scholz, the floodwaters destroyed and, in some cases, even washed away houses. and in one town near cologne, the water created landslides which undermined a row of homes and a castle — it had survived for centuries, but wasn't able to withstand the onslaught of the floods. often people had just minutes to get to safety. translation: i woke up about 11pm and stepped into the water— with a depth of a

let's talk to our political correspondent damian grammaticas.? take from that two things. first, that clear message that they want to go ahead if possible on the 19th, but, that was the but at the end, the signal there may still be some precautions that people with the prime minister said that he would be laying out the details of what that we don't know what that is without that may be to do with the social distancing measures, masked some situations, maybe some limits on some sorts of gatherings, but that date of the 1951 to remove the final restrictions of social contact with “p restrictions of social contact with up —— the 19th ofjuly. some indoor gatherings and events, nightclubs, large—scale outdoors, things like that, i think we can see the, looking at the data come he was talking about the case is going up but the overall but not hospitalisations and deaths in such a fast rate, that is what they see the breathing space, the question is more around i think those extra precautions that might still be in place, so there is still some cautio

our political correspondent, damian grammaticas is at westminster.ore she finishes her time as chancellor, she is putting in place a system where there will be now regular cooperation, meetings between the uk and germany to discuss foreign policy and defence and security issues, climate change, dealing with russia and china, things like that. specifically because after brexit the uk has withdrawn from all that sort of co—operation at the eu level, it did not sign any agreement on that in its exit treaty, so now it's up to dealing with individual countries, so germany very much and it has been germany's approach, chancellor merkel has had meetings with vladimir putin in russia, she is seeking to build these relationships and hear particular talking about one based on shared values and a shared common approach internationally, tackling climate change, promoting democracy and the rule of law, so that was what she wanted to put in place overall with this visit. . , wanted to put in place overall with this visit. ,, , ., this visit. she is also meeting th

let's get more on this from our political correspondent damian grammaticas.s saying is that this will now come to an end from the end of september, that is when it has been extended up to and the treasury are saying it's right that uplift goes. it had been extended for another six months earlier this year and they are saying that as the restrictions are wound down this provides an extra three months of payments but at that point it seems it will stop. their decision was made within government to make sure that £20 was extended _ government to make sure that £20 was extended for the six months and that is extended for the six months and that is being _ extended for the six months and that is being honoured but a collective decision— is being honoured but a collective decision was made that as we see the economy— decision was made that as we see the economy open up we shift the focus strongly— economy open up we shift the focus strongly on— economy open up we shift the focus strongly on the getting people into work and _ strongly on the getting people into work

joining me now is our political correspondent damian grammaticas.relaxation of all measures. then in front of those senior mp5 were poor shot that is regularly questioned, that happened this afternoon. quite a bit of focus there on the pandemic as you would expect. some questions about the measures that were announced to and to the universal credit uplift, the extra £20, £1000 a year. that's going to stop now from the end of september. borisjohnson pressed on that because he was told it would be coming injust that because he was told it would be coming in just as further was coming to an end and could help many hard. he sort of indicated well, it's currently under review end of the chancellor wants to save money there. he was also impressed as you suggested that this idea that the double vaccinated can avoid having to isolate but only from later in august. he was asked about why in this with his answer. by the 16th of august, when contacts of people with covid no longer have _ to isolate, is the 16th of august, is that the date you expect us to reac

our political correspondent damian grammaticas is in westminster a lot of tensions about what shouldey have been under enormous pressure - happen next. absolutely, they have| been under enormous pressure from businesses, in parliament, from some mps and more broadly to push ahead with the opening up. it has been delayed a bit and the reason for that delay was the arrival of the new variant, the delta variant and that in itself, the fact that is spreading and spreading quite fast now is the reason for the pressure the other way, which is also coming from some scientists, from some of the independent scientists who are putting out reports on the spread of the pandemic from health organisations like the bma and from other politicians as well. we have seenin other politicians as well. we have seen in manchester, andy burnham in london sadik khan, the mat as well, little bit about the impacts. they are worried about the impacts of relaxing the final restriction now and accelerating the spread. those are the tensions, pulling in different ways. but what we understand is that are signals to