—— damian grammaticas. what does this mean? mean? -- damian grammaticas. what does this mean?-- damian grammaticas. what does this mean? what this means that she was the covid _ does this mean? what this means that she was the covid inquiry's _ does this mean? what this means that she was the covid inquiry's position - she was the covid inquiry's position has been upheld and it will get full access to all the whatsapp messages, the notebooks and diaries of boris johnson that it wants and the government's position, downing street's position that it shouldn't have to hand that over because some of it might be private information that might be irrelevant to the inquiry has been rejected by in this ruling so the government has brought this claim forjudicial review saying the inquiry chairwoman was acting irrationally beyond her powers and the judges, these two judges have said no, she absolutely has the power to demand what she wants to see. one small caveat is that part of this issue was revolves around this question, government saying they basically felt there might be private i

damian, thank you, damian grammaticas— found. s to be more tightly regulated because of the fire risk they pose. in the uk, eight people have been killed by e—bike and e—scooter fires since 2020, when batteries have overheated and exploded. manufacturers are allowed to self—declare that the batteries meet safety standards, but campaigners want third—party approval before sale. tim muffett reports. that's my 11—year—old's football boots. as you can see here... ..this here, that's that window. gone. in seconds. it was a christmas present for andrew's 11—year—old son. this is what it's like, everyone. and it caused the fire that devastated theirfamily home in lancaster. we'd gone to bed, say 11 o'clock. i've got a 21—year—old son coming down for a drink of water, goes in the kitchen. the next thing he hears is porn porn p°p - the bike had exploded, the batteries on a little electric bike. i heard my son shouting, "dad, dad, dad, the bike's on fire!" two, three minutes, the house had gone. everything's in there. i come out with nowt,

start byjust correspondence damian grammaticas.ondence damian grammaticas. start byjust telling us a little more about what this group is, who this group is. it is more about what this group is, who this grow) is-_ more about what this group is, who this grow) is— this group is. it is a group of 25 conservative _ this group is. it is a group of 25 conservative mps, _ this group is. it is a group of 25 conservative mps, the - this group is. it is a group of 25 conservative mps, the majority of them fairly new ones come —— won their seat in the last election. what used to be labour seats. some of them have been mps for much longer, but all of them have thisyou that the promise that was made by the conservatives at that election to bring down the number of immigrants coming to the uk, then it was around 200,000, they think that is a promise worth keeping, but the numbers have gone up keeping, but the numbers have gone up to about 600,000 full of it is worth saying quite a lot of that number are worth saying quite a lot of that numbera

damian grammaticas, bbc news.e news here in the uk. a man's died in hospital, after a crash involving an ambulance and a scooter in south yorkshire, in the north of england. police say the ambulance was responding to an emergency call in barnsley, on friday night, when the collision happened. three men have been arrested on suspicion of murder in hereford in the west midlands, where police have been searching for a missing man who fell into a river. officers are investigating whether the man was involved in an altercation, before falling into the water near victoria bridge just after midnight. plans for the hs2 rail line in england have been deemed "unachievable", by the government's own infrastructure watchdog. construction of the first two phases of the high speed rail line, have been given a �*red' rating, with major issues relating to the schedule and budget which the infrastructure and projects authority, say don't appear to be "managable or resolvable". as russian forces moved into ukraine last year, thousan

live now to our political correspondent damian grammaticas. grammaticas. is a story tha�* twists this is a story that had a few twists and turns. it this is a story that had a few twists and turns.— this is a story that had a few twists and turns. it is. one thing i think is worth _ twists and turns. it is. one thing i think is worth pointing _ twists and turns. it is. one thing i think is worth pointing out - twists and turns. it is. one thing i think is worth pointing out or - think is worth pointing out or making clear is that those rule changes are not because of this story. they have been in the pipeline for some time and been considered by the governments been looking into this whole issue for quite a few months. that was actually related to earlier temporary account closures in other cases. by different institutions and they've been looking at this question because they view this as an important question of principle. that's a view that is shared across the political parties here. the principle being, how do you balance theissue, princi

let's go live to our political correspondent damian grammaticas. i read the statement in full. lmost in full. can you tell us what it all means? damian: the importance oall this is this was the phone that boris johnson had and was using from the very start of the pandemic, early 2020 all the way through the first roughly year and a half, may 2021. it was a period where the government was grappling with the origins of the pandemic, what to do at the start of it, and the first wave, then the second wave, and even the third. three lockdowns this period covers. what the inquiry wants to see on that are the whatsapp messages sent between two dozen senior government figures. it was a group that could exchange messages and message each other individually. mr. johnson was prime minister and that included him, his chancellor, finance minister rishi sunak the health secretary at the time, senior health advisors, senior civil servants, and all of those messages will give insight into what was going on at the heart of government. this phone number, but johnson had it for years. when the fac

here's our political correspondent damian grammaticas.

here s our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. by some, loathed by others. they use barriers, bollards and automatic number plate recognition cameras to control or limit access to some streets. they've been set up in recent years in london, bristol, birmingham, bournemouth and more cities with tens of millions of pounds of government funding. the aim — to keep through traffic away from residential streets, lower average speeds, improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions. in some places, tempers have flared between drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. at least one opinion survey commissioned by the government has shown broad support in areas where they've been put in place, but some motorists and businesses are opposed. earlier this month, the transport secretary said he was halting funding for any new schemes in england. now rishi sunak has ordered a review into how existing ones are working. mr sunak told the sunday telegraph... "the vast majority of people in the country use their cars to get around and are dependent on their

our political correspondent damian grammaticas gave me the details.e told us. and they put out the statement. saying that the technical experts who were looking at this phone have now managed to unlock it. they found the old pin number to get in there. they have recovered the whatsapp messages on there. and borisjohnson had said all along that he was happy to hand those over to the official covid inquiry. so that's now what is going to happen. but there's one sort of caveat, which is that the process for that is that the whatsapp messages, i think, will have to go to the cabinet office, so the government, which will scrutinise them, it willjust have a quick look through. i think basically national security concerns are the issue there and then pass them on. if you cast your mind back, remember, there was a legal case that the government had brought the cabinet office when it was wanting to withhold some of these messages from the inquiry. the inquiry chair had asked for them. cabinet office had said it thought that some of them were irrelevant. it com

with more on this with our political correspondent damian grammaticas. westminster as we were talking about earlier on. yes westminster as we were talking about earlier on. , w , ~ westminster as we were talking about earlier on. , w , �* ~ earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as — earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as you _ earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as you can _ earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as you can see _ earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as you can see here - earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as you can see here on - earlier on. yes exactly. andrew mel concern as you can see here on the| concern as you can see here on the court of the steps of appeal this week when he won that appeal to overturn his conviction. i7 week when he won that appeal to overturn his conviction. 17 years he had spent injail. that overturn his conviction. 17 years he had spent in jail. that admission there, or that statement there that he made on bbc radio, that caused huge concern and discussion because of t

our political correspondent damian grammaticas is at westminster for us now. immigration to the uk declining, and at the time it was around 200,000 a year. the balance of the population when you subtract those leaving from those arriving was about 200,000 arriving. now he's gone up to about 600,000. what they say is that that is a pledge that, when they go out and about, they think people want to see capped. one thing they want is refugees, they want a cap on the number of refugees that the uk would take. perhaps around 20,000 a year. they want things like a student visa. at the minute, if you come as an overseas student, you can stay for a couple of years after your course to look for work in the uk and to be here. they want that done away with. they want things like social care, so elderly care. at the minute, there is a huge need for workers in that and in other areas of the economy, but that is one particularly helping to staff and care for elderly people. they are on a special list of occupations that employers can hire abroad and bring in. they want that

it has until monday afternoon to hand over the documents. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticasl coronavirus inquiry that is now under at looking into the governments handling of the government itself where the inquiry chair had asked to see the whatsapp messages exchanged between boris johnson and other senior officials. a few dozen of them so matt hancock was one of them, the senior medical figures involved in handling the pandemic, senior civil servants, and she wanted to see all of those whatsapp messages and boris johnson's personal header in darius and his government diary, or that communication. the government came back and said it wanted to redact things and put a black pen through stuff. she said it was in her power to demand that, they try to change it, took her to court, and have confidence of a lost here. which i think it won't surprise many legal observers watching, wondering how strong the governments argument was. the twojudges at strong the governments argument was. the two judges at the high court i said the government cannot withhold information from this publi

here's our political correspondent, damian grammaticas.more about how ulez led to the labour party's loss in the uxbridge by—election. this seat on the edge of london used to be borisjohnson�*s seat. when he resigned and left parliament, that seat came up. it had been a tory seat for quite some time. labour were hopeful that they could take it but they fell just short. and the issue, as you say at the heart of that campaign, which the conservative party made much of, was this plan by the labour mayor of london, sadiq khan, to expand the charging zone for polluting cars, old polluting vehicles to the edge of london, which would have just taken in that constituency, would have faced people in the constituency with old cars, could face a cost of £12.50, a month, basically, a day to drive their cars. and that was credited with tipping it in the wake of that, as you say, pressure or calls from the right wing of the conservative party and rishi sunak to water down climate policies as a potential vote win. and now what we have is the sort of back

our political correspondent damian grammaticas is with us.tee said today. he had responsibility for enforcing party discipline and upholding standards and that is why in their view this was more damaging to public perception than some of the other cases we have discussed in the past. yes, exactly right. chris pincher was a conservative mp and at the time, he was a deputy chief whip. in the british system, what that means is that he was in the number two in terms of, in the department that would enforce discipline within a party's group of mps. the deputy chief whip, that means getting people into line to vote the right way in crucial votes in the house of commons. dealing with internal matters of discipline. and therefore, he was in a position of power and authority and the committee found that that was a serious factor in this. and there rear part was quite stark and shocking, i have to say, in a members club not too far from here a year or so ago there were a couple of occasions when other men in there, he groped them, he groped them on the

live now to our political correspondent damian grammaticas. i read out the statement there in full.n you 'ust tell us what it all means?— full. can you 'ust tell us what it allmeans? , , ., . ., all means? this is the importance of this, this is — all means? this is the importance of this, this is the — all means? this is the importance of this, this is the phone _ all means? this is the importance of this, this is the phone that - all means? this is the importance of this, this is the phone that boris - this, this is the phone that boris johnson had and was using from the very start of the pandemic, early 2020, all the way through the first roughly year and a half up until may 2021. it was a period when the government was grappling with the origins of the pandemic, what to do at the start of it, then the first wave, second wave, and even deferred. three lock downs, this period covers. what the inquiry wants to see on that are the whatsapp messages sent between about two dozen senior government figures. there was a whatsapp group where they could exchange messages and message each o

damian grammaticas, bbc news.d morning- _ energy security, isn't it? good morning- yes. _ energy security, isn't it? good morning. yes, a _ energy security, isn't it? good morning. yes, a big _ energy security, isn't it? good morning. yes, a big week - energy security, isn't it? good l morning. yes, a big week ahead energy security, isn't it? choc morning. yes, a big week ahead on that front. what we are expecting is the energy secretary, grant shapps, will be meeting with energy bosses to talk about this whole issue of energy security. obviously very topical, in light of russia's invasion of ukraine and what that has meant for our energy bills. we are also expecting the prime minister to be out and about as well, according to the sunday times today he might be up in scotland, in aberdeenshire, announcing funding for carbon caption and storage projects. there are a number of things going on here. if we link it back to what was being spoken about there with the low traffic neighbourhoods, the government very much t

i've been speaking with our political correspondent damian grammaticas, who gave us the latest. 25 conservative the last election in some of the seats the conservatives took from the opposition labour party. there are some who are longer standing mps but all of them identify they say from going around and talking to people in their constituencies that the issue of immigration is important and what they say is important is the fact that back in the election in 2019 the conservative promise was to bring down the overall number of people immigrating to the uk which at the time was about 200,000 a year. what's happened is it hasn't gone down, it's gone up and in fact its troubled and they say that's an issue that they want tackled. it worth saying though that there are other opinion surveys that suggest that actually since the brexit referendum, as an issue generally for people, the issue of migration to the uk has become less important. so conflicting views of what actually matters. in so conflicting views of what actually matters.— so conflicting views of what actually matters. so conflicting vie

our political correspondent damian grammaticas has been following this story — hejoins me live..f all, or remind us what this is about and what this ruling now means? , , . ., ., means? this is a argument that blew between the — means? this is a argument that blew between the official _ means? this is a argument that blew between the official coronavirus - between the official coronavirus inquiry now under way at looking into the governments handling of the pandemic, and the government itself where the inquiry chair had ecstasy the whatsapp messages exchanged between boris johnson the whatsapp messages exchanged between borisjohnson and other senior officials. a few dozen of them. so, matt hancock was one of them, the senior medical figures involved in handling the pandemic, senior civil servants, and she wanted to see all of those whatsapp messages and barsjohnson�*s personal handwritten diaries, his government diary, all of that communication. the government came back and said it wanted to redact things and put a black panther stuff. she said it was in her power to demand that,

coronavirus inquiry, a spokesperson for the ex—prime minister has said. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticaspling with the origins of the pandemic, what to do at the start of it, then the first wave, second wave, and even deferred. second wave, and even the third. three lockdowns, this period covers. what the inquiry wants to see on that are the whatsapp messages sent between about two dozen senior government figures. there was a whatsapp group where they could exchange messages and message each other individually. mrjohnson, as prime minister, it included him, his chancellor rishi sunak, health secretary at the time, senior health advisers, senior civil servants, and all of those messages will give an insight into what was going on at the heart of government. now, this phone number, borisjohnson had had it for years and when that fact came out and it was realised that this number been public, the security advisers said to him in 2021, "you have to put this aside and not use it." it had been locked away, now they've been able to recover it and he says he will hand over. there has also been a

here's our political correspondent, damian grammaticas a large part of that campaign was about the laboura screw that. ., , , , that. that is exactly right. this was in a seat _ that. that is exactly right. this was in a seat on _ that. that is exactly right. this was in a seat on the _ that. that is exactly right. this was in a seat on the edge - that. that is exactly right. this was in a seat on the edge of i that. that is exactly right. this - was in a seat on the edge of london that used to be borisjohnson's seat. when he resigned and left parliament, that seat came up, it had been a tory seat for quite some time, labourwere had been a tory seat for quite some time, labour were hopeful that they could take it, but they felljust short. the issue, as you say come out that campaign which the conservative party made much of, was this plan by the labour mayor of london, siddique khan, to expend a charging zone for polluting cars. old polluting vehicles to the edge of london which would have just taken in that constituency. it would have phased people in the constituency with old cars, they