diane abbott about getting quite a rapturous reception here, but i have been speaking to some peopleht he would never be out on the street protesting again something like this. i spoke to a schoolgirl who is here with her mother who said that she felt compelled to come out because she had learnt in school about democracy and in her view this wasn't democracy. there are also a few people here totally of the opposite view. i spoke to one man who had come along to say, actually, the people here are the ones trying to thwart democracy because they are trying to stop brexit from happening. i put that to some other campaigners. they say this is not about stopping brexit, this is stopping the suspension of parliament which they claim will —— there will not be enough time for brexit to be debated. as for the government, they say there will be ample time for this to be discussed, but there are scenes here with people showing something to think about, the strength of feeling here. simonjones in about, the strength of feeling here. simon jones in central about, the strength of feeling here. sim

shadow home secretary diane abbott said it was "crude" and "offensive" while other commentators haver, describing it as racist. so what do you think? will this work? we're going to talk about that later. first, rachel schofield has the news. police in malaysia say nora quoirin, the 15—year old girl from london whose body was discovered earlier this week, died from from internal bleeding probably caused by prolonged hunger and stress. a post mortem examination revealed no signs that she'd been abducted and no evidence of foul play. nora — who suffered from a brain disorder and had special needs — went missing 11 days ago while on a family holiday. her body was found about a mile and a half from the resort where they'd been staying. the proportion of a—level entries awarded an a grade or higher has fallen to its lowest level for more than a decade. 25.5% of uk entries were awarded an a or a—star grade this summer. that's the the lowest it's been since 2007 when it was 25.3%. more than 300,000 a—level students in england, wales and northern ireland are receiving their results this morni

the shadow home secretary diane abbott has called the idea crude and offensive, saying that the government demonising them. joining me now from barnt green in worcestershire is 0mar sharif, a former gang member who has since turned his life around and went on to win a pride of britain award last year. welcome, 0mar. what do you think of this idea? i have very mixed feelings about it, to be honest. firstly, i mean, by doing that you arejust firstly, i mean, by doing that you are just focusing firstly, i mean, by doing that you arejust focusing on firstly, i mean, by doing that you are just focusing on a very particular demographic of people. assuming that it is mostly going to be young people between the ages of, i don't know, 14—21, for example. secondly, is it the best way to spend money in regards to whether you are trying to raise awareness of knife crime or are you really trying to bring down the violence of knife crime. if you are talking to 14-21 —year—olds, that makes sense to a degree, doesn't it, in terms of who is caught up in this? well, you are saying that all young people eat

and search measures and on the action prison places labour have been scathing of the government, diane abbotters is a tried and tested recipe for unrest, not violence reduction. and on extra prison places, richard burgin, says the tories have talked tough on law and order in the past and failed to bring down the number of victims of crime and says the government does not have a strategy. this all plays into the speculation that the government is making announcements of this nature one after the other in quick succession because there might well be an election come the autumn whether it is parliament forcing one or the prime minister deciding. labour would like to talk about these promises during an election campaign. the chinese government has told britain it should stop interfering in hong kong's affairs, after the foreign secretary, dominic raab, suggested there should be an investigation into violence during the recent pro—democracy protests. beijing said the days when the uk ruled the territory were "long gone". it comes as police fired tear gas at demonstrators in a working—class distric

he also has humanity he cares about people he empathizes with others cool cool women as the and diane abbott the shout of exactly is that as ons must not be extra di did i just quickly actually i better ask you about how do leaders loom in aged issues like palestine and yemen and britain now sending record levels of weapons to israel somebody like julian assange which willy nilly will be a progressive think thoughts why he chose to do the job that he chose to do that's why he's an activist that's why we mention him in the same breath as john pilcher because he cares about other people. he has some of the same qualities that jeremy cobain has i'm going to ask you what you would say to the british prime minister and would you think about what will happen to julian isn't here in london and whether indeed as some people say he might be killed what i would say to the british prime minister. i suspect that i mean i could say and i think 1st i'd say resign but after that obie for that i said before you resign think carefully about handing julian assange over to the americans except i think that wou

diane abbott making that point this morning. 0verall, many people suspect that if they are not planning in case one happens. good insurance policy. the government with a majority of one now, it would come at any time, couldn't it? you talk about the intervention gordon brown has made today. pretty strong denunciation of the government. maybe that is surprising but real concerns expressed about one of his pet concerns which is the future of the union. this is a passion of gordon brown's, and not so much a political point because he criticises labour within his statement as well. what he is saying is that nationalist ideology is taking over the debate. you've heard this before our people are concentrating more on getting out of the eu rather than staying within a union and he's worried particularly that i know deal could have a negative consequence and boost the national list cause in scotla nd boost the national list cause in scotland and he's worried that leaving the eu would be prioritised over northern ireland staying within the union. —— who is the nationalist cause. the shadow chanc

the shadow home secretary diane abbott there. dubious about boris johnson's plan. moment. we know the treasury has approved the money to go into the criminaljustice system but we don't know yet where this money is going to come from and this money is going to come from and this all adds to the speculation that number ten is planning for an awesome general election. downing street very much as gearing us away from that. —— steering us away from that. with me is the barrister mark fenhalls qc, a former chair of the criminal bar association. good morning. do you think a review of sentencing is needed? this review isa of sentencing is needed? this review is a tiny part of the problem of the criminal justice system. is a tiny part of the problem of the criminaljustice system. if the prime minister means what he says about criminals getting the sentences they deserve, what we actually need is for them to be prosecuted in the first place. the cps and the police have had a 45% drop in all the crimes they have investigated and prosecuted over the last eight years, and that

diane abbott, the shadow home secretary, saying that extending stop and search powers is a tried ande reduction. and then on the extra prison places, richard burgin the shadowjustice secretary says that the tories have talked enough on law and order in the past and failed to bring down the number of victims of crime. they say the government doesn't have a strategy. this all plays into the speculation that the government is making announcements of this nature one after the other in quick succession because they are of the mind that there may well be an election come the autumn, whether it is parliament forcing the prime minister into holding one or the prime minister himself deciding that it is time to have an election and parliament backing that. these are exactly the kinds of things that the conservatives would like to be able to talk about and say that they promised during an election campaign. well let's get more reaction on this from mark fairhurst, the national chair of the prison 0fficers' association. great to speak to us today. first question, what is going on in today's pris

one of them is the shadow home secretary diane abbott, who is dubious about his plans.er society knows, that we have record levels of violent crime under this tory government. and as a party, we are committed to what works. if you take stop and search, all the research, even the home office's own research demonstrates that stop and search, random stop and search in and of itself does not bring down violent crime and knife crime. it's about what works. we also know that the treasury has agreed to this money, £85 million going to the crown prosecution service. that is the body who decide who is prosecuted and for which crime. what we don't know is where that money is going to come from. as you suggested, this is all adding to the speculation that number ten is doing the groundwork to prepare for a possible general election this autumn. thank you. let's speak now to the conservative mp and chair of the commonsjustice select committe, bob neill. do you agree with the principle that if you send more people to jail for longer, it will reduce crime in the end? not automaticall

labour suggested that borisjohnson‘s letter to the eu was fantasyland at the shadow home secretary diane abbottut a deal which be potentially chaotic and disastrous because businesses would have no time to adjust. what business and eu nationals want, which is more consultation and a longer and more considered transitional process. you would be happy with something that just allowed things to remain, essentially, the same on november the ist as on october 31? essentially, the same on november the 1st as on october 31? you have to have a transitional process, that is what eu nationals and business thing. anything else is chaos. the government's official position is that it government's official position is thatitis government's official position is that it is angling for a deal, energetic to get a deal, but some conservative dissidents such as the former chancellor philip hammond is suggesting borisjohnson setting the bar too high for negotiation with the eu and all of this is setup to fail. we have not had an official response from the eu, but the irish government seem to be sceptical that they

their shadow home secretary diane abbott warned today of the potential consequences of leaving withouten. what business and eu nationals want, which is more consultation and a longer and more considered transitional process. which is what theresa may had promised. you would be happy with something that just allowed things to remain essentially the same on november ist as it was on october 315t? you've got to have a transitional process. that's what eu nationals think and that's what business thinks. anything else is chaos. there is one small glimmer in what borisjohnson said, if the technological solutions to resolve the northern irish border issue don't work in time, the uk is ready to look constructively and flexibly at what commitments might help. some people might say that sounds an awful lot like a backstop. downing street being pretty vague about what those commitments might be, but maybe, just maybe, something for conversations to get going on as the prime minister tours are some european capitals this week. 0k, peter, thank you very much indeed in westminster. let's hear what t

labour mps diane abbott and david lammy have labelled the scheme as "embarrassing" and "borderline racistin england, wales and northern ireland will receive their a—level results this morning. more than a quarter of entries are expected to score a top grade. this is the first summer that marks for the new specification of a—level maths are being awarded. chi chi izundu spoke to students in blackpool to see how they were feeling. two years of study followed by exam after exam, and now the hope of congratulations. hundreds of thousands of students in england have sat the new—style a—levels. very little coursework and a final examination makes the grade. for these pupils in blackpool, it was an experience. we're used to being guinea pigs now. instead of learning nine pieces of music one year, nine the next, it was the full 18 over two years. and we had to remember every single one of them for one two—hour paper. you're just learning to an exam, and that's not intelligence, i don't think. these new exams are a test of how well you can answer an exam question. but how these a—levels are being