0ur political correspondent emma vardy is here. the ukip leader has been talking today. is he going to go or stay? he's very much fighting to try to keep hisjob. he says he's very much fighting to try to keep his job. he says all the fallout from the relationship with jo marney is over, the relationship is over, he is distancing himself from that and says it does not affect his ability to get on and do the job of leading ukip. affect his ability to get on and do thejob of leading ukip. the big question will be, can he convince the national executive committee of the national executive committee of the party, who he will have to meet with this afternoon? he's been out doing media interviews this morning, appearing on as many programmes as he could fit into a sunday morning, arguing he is the man for thejob and he wants to stay. he said the national executive committee should not be a court of moraljudgment and he believes the party needs to move forward. i want to put all this behind us. the personal issues

emma vardy, thank you very much.n coming weeks to crack down on company executives who enrich themselves while jeopardising their workers' pensions. writing in the observer newspaper, she describes the practice as an unacceptable abuse that will be ended. germany could move closer to having a stable government later today, four months after inconclusive general elections. the centre—left social democrats are due to vote on whether to begin formal coalition talks on renewing the four—year alliance with the conservatives of the chancellor, angela merkel. our correspondentjenny hill is following developments from berlin. they are no strangers to each other but how different now is the political landscape, jenny?” but how different now is the political landscape, jenny? i have to say this is a very controversial set of talks. i've just been watching this special party conference that the social democrats, listening to the speeches, and this party is bitterly, passionately divided over whether it should go back into coali

emma vardy there.fered extra protection against people attempting to silence them. the government is changing planning guidance so that long—standing community facilities and have to make expensive changes because of complaints from new neighbours. instead, housing developers will be responsible for addressing any noise issues during construction. joining me now via webcam is caroline stockmann, from the central council of church bell ringers. shejoins us now she joins us now from shejoins us now from sevenoaks. thank you very much for being with us, caroline. good afternoon to you. you must be delighted by this news? yes, it is very, very welcome news, so we are very pleased. how much of a problem has this been in the recent past? you occasionally get issues where somebody moves into the area, and for one reason or another, hasn't expected there will be bells ringing ora expected there will be bells ringing or a clock chiming, which is often the issue. so it does happen occasionally. i would say the m

a while ago, i asked our correspondent emma vardy whether president macron was offering britain any thingat the eu 27 have already given us, if you wa nt full eu 27 have already given us, if you want full access to the single market, you have to abide by those rules, freedom of movement, the jurisdiction of the european court ofjustice, and those red lions theresa may has already set out, saying when we leave, we are also leaving the single market, and rule structure follows that. so in one sense he is reiterating the red lions we have already seen, but i think we can take from this is that macron is supportive of britain getting this bespoke trade deal, which theresa may has said we want what we leave the eu. it means we will not be forced into accepting an off—the—shelf deal such as canada has. theresa may wants our bespoke deal to go much further. the tension will lie onjust how deal to go much further. the tension will lie on just how much compromise will lie on just how much compromise will be made and how difficult the negotiations are going to be to make that bespoke deal the way t

our political correspondent, emma vardy is here. .it .ip leader falling on his sword —— does it look like? if he does they will be looking for the fifth leader in just over one year. whether he goes will not be determined by the nec committee today, they cannot sack him, they can hold a vote of confidence and if he tries to stay on the could then ta ke he tries to stay on the could then take it to a wider general meeting. he might, after conversations with the party‘s ruling body, decided to go. the pressure has been mounting on him as the scandal over his now ex—girlfriend has developed, ever since christmas and he has been saying he wants to remain he has distanced himself from that relationship and says he wants to get on with the job in hand. it looks more and more unlikely he will be able to stay, and other ukip nep speaking to breakfast this morning said some things in politics the time comes when everybody knows the game is up and it‘s starting to feel like that today for henry bolton. maybe the game is up for ukip as a party. patr

our political correspondent, emma vardy is here.e of the party itself. absolutely, if henry bolton was to call later today the party would be looking for its fifth leader injust over one party would be looking for its fifth leader in just over one year. it had problems with infighting, a series of scandals. what we are seeing here is ukip has struggled ever since the brexit referendum because its reason for existing seemed to vanish, it achieved its central theme in the eyes of many. loyal ukip activists and party members say there is a position for ukip in british politics going forward and it can broaden its appeal. others are more sceptical saying any sign of the surgeons for the party seems more unlikely. what of henry bolton, does it look like he will have to stand down because his supporters say he himself has not done anything wrong, it was his girlfriend to set these text messages and he has not ended their relationship. there are those saying what happened in your private life, you should be able to distance yourself from t

that was vince cable talking to breakfast a little earlier. 0ur political correspondent emma vardy islatest. first of all, to help us get some sense of how significant this company is, what sort of things does it do for the public sector, for government? it is pretty huge. it is the uk's second largest construction company and plays a big role in delivering services to the public sector so it manages around 900 schools and maintains around 50,000 homes for the ministry of defence, manages highways and prisons as well. it would create an enormous headache for the government if this high profile company was to go bust. it really seems like the future of carillion is now hanging in the balance. there have been talks with minister this week. there were reports that carillion had turned down a bailout rescue option but carillion later denied that. the government is keeping pretty tight—lipped about what any contingency plans are. we understand some of the prisons contracts are due to be moved back in—house but things are hanging in the balance. there is talk of high—level meetings during t

our political correspondent emma vardy is here.bit of a rearguard action today, doing lots of interviews, defending his position, trying to shore up his position as leader. yes, he's appeared on three sunday morning political discussion shows, fighting to keep hisjob. he says the relationship is over and that he is 110w relationship is over and that he is now completely focused on taking ukip forward. the problem is, though, he has lost a lot of confidence within the party. there have been many ukip meps and other party figures coming out and calling for him to go saying it has become an embarrassment and too much of destruction, the many headlines that we re destruction, the many headlines that were created during his short relationship with jo were created during his short relationship withjo marney were created during his short relationship with jo marney and were created during his short relationship withjo marney and the lea k of relationship withjo marney and the leak of those racist and offensive text messages to the press.

emma vardy, bbc news. staff. that's the warning from a senior doctor in a leaked memo to staff at churchill hospital in oxford. he says the number of specialist nurses at the hospital is down by 40% — nearly a half. our health editor hugh pym is outside the hospital in oxford. i wonderjust how worried patients in the oxford area, cancer patients, should be about this? the trust which runs this hospital says patients should be completely reassured there has been no change in policy whatsoever and they should continue to expect high standards of ca re continue to expect high standards of care but in a timely fashion, but this leaked e—mail shows that doctors there are seriously concerned about workforce shortages, difficulties recruiting trained cancer nurses, and they think chemotherapy will be affected. they are considering reducing the doses for patients who are terminally ill. it has been said that, for some patients who don't need chemotherapy urgently, there are delays of one to two weeks, but the trus

labour chairman says regulators should have stepped in much earlier. 0ur political correspondent, emma vardye studio. andrew marr show. sniet so there are two concerns here, the the first is the auditors kpmg, take us through that. yes, so the question that frank field is raising here, is why alarm bells weren't ringing sooner because kpmg have been auditing the accounts of carillion for many years, they had give them a clean bill of health to say they are a going concern, which means they have been judged to from the the cash flow to continue operating for the foreseeable future, after having been given that sign off by kpmg, just a few months later, carillion were then looking to be in serious trouble so there are questions ore how the judgments we re are questions ore how the judgments were made, and with such a big black hole in the pensions fund, now known to be round £600 million or almost that, you know, why weren't the auditors picking that up sooner, why was that clean bill of health given? so it is notjust the bosses of the company carillion facing the scrutiny here, frank field sa

labour chairman says regulators should have stepped in much earlier. 0ur political correspondent emma vardyry and spoke to me a little earlier. so the question that frank field is raising here is why alarm bells were ringing much sooner, because kpmg had been auditing the accounts of liszt for many years. they'd given them a clean bill of health, a sign of, to say they were going concern, which means they were judged to have the cash flow to continue operating. but having been given that sign off by kpmg, a few months later carillion were looking to be in serious trouble. there were questions over how those judgments mould made and with such a big black hole in the pensions fund, known to be around almost £600 million, why weren't the auditors picking that up sooner? why was that clean bill of health given? it's notjust the bosses of the company carillion facing scrutiny, frank field said it is the auditors who need to be questioned as well. we will, as a committee, be looking at why did we reach this position, why did kpmg sign off these accounts, saying this is a going concern as a compan

our political correspondent, emma vardy is here. maybe start with a bit of background to this. mounting on henry bolton because of the scandal over his now ex—girlfriend, which has been developing ever since christmas. those are offensive, racist text m essa 9 es we re those are offensive, racist text messages were leaked to the newspapers. he broke up with his girlfriend, joe marney, has particularly sort of distance himself from that relationship, but to no avail. there have been mounting calls for him to resign over this. he has been strongly making the case that he should stay as leader, saying actually don't judge me on my personal life, i will sort that out in private. he is particularly saying the national executive committee, who he is meeting with right now, should not act as a moral court, and that he wa nts to act as a moral court, and that he wants to remain in position to take the party forward. i want to put all of this behind us, the personal issues relating to my marriage off a meal to deal —— me to deal with. there is nothing more that she or i or anyone else c

our political correspondent, emma vardy is here with me in the studio.these points yes, so questions are being raised over why alarm bells weren't ringing much sooner, because carillion‘s accounts we re sooner, because carillion‘s accounts were audited, signed off by the regulator kpmg, as a going concern, saying this company has the cash flow to keep going for the foreseeable future, that turned out to be in hindsight a very poor judgment, because months later carillion was shown to be 234 serious trouble. frank field, the chair of the work and pensions select committee is saying it is no just the big bosses who need to be under scrutiny, we need to ask tough questions of the the auditors too, it was because of to that sign off partly from the auditors giving the company a clean bill of health that carillion bosses were paying big dividends to shareholders, the bosses on healthy salaries which in hindsight when there was a big black hole in the pensions fund looks like poorjudgment indeed, hole in the pensions fund looks like poor judgment indeed, and h

emma vardy, bbc news. you are watching bbc news, the top stories. others are unaccounted for. uk manufacturing output has grown at its verses written nearly a decade. thejury its verses written nearly a decade. the jury hears from an alleged victim of barry bennell. the chancellor, philip hammond, and the brexit secretary, david davis, are making separate visits to germany, to try to build support for a trade deal between the uk and the eu, which includes financial services. mr hammond is speaking at an economic conference in berlin, while mr davis is visiting siemens and airbus in munich. in a joint article for the german newspaper, the frankfurter allgemeine, the two men said "as two of europe's biggest economies, it makes no sense to either germany or britain to put in place unnecessary barriers to trade in goods and services that would only damage businesses and economic growth on both sides of the channel." dr ulrish hoppe is director general of the german—british chamber of commerce here in london. it is supported by the german ministry of eco

well this story has come from the bbc‘s emma vardy 5 i've been talking to her.t is. this is a group of international volunteers, one from the us, others going to afrin to fight against turkey so a twist in what is a complicated situation. mercenaries or ideological leap motivated? they say they are not mercenaries, they volunteers, they don't get paid. motivated for different reasons, initially the desire to fight against what they saw as the evil of is, is motivated by the kurdish ideology of setting up an autonomous region. in terms of setting up against turkey it's a different mission. legally they could face different consequences in the uk. fighting against what is technically a nato ally of the uk. to the express concern that they are involved in a mismatch between the turkish military and a relatively small kurdish militia? turkish military and a relatively small kurdish militia ?|j turkish military and a relatively small kurdish militia? i asked them just that, you could be facing the prospect of death. we've seen seven deaths among british men fighting

let's get more on this from our political correspondent emma vardy.h what's been said. of course theresa may has a lwa ys said. of course theresa may has always been saying that what she wa nts always been saying that what she wants from britain after brexit is for this country to be able to strike a trade deal with the eu, which allows british businesses to continue to be able to trade across europe without imposition of costly ta riffs europe without imposition of costly tariffs which could damage british business. the problem is at the moment there isn't another country that has anything like the type of trade deal with want, because we are asking for a much better one. so emmanuel macron‘s this and was necessarily about brexit but eve ryo ne necessarily about brexit but everyone has been looking for clues as to how much front our neighbour is going to be favourable to the uk when it comes to these negotiations. —— how much france. but president macron on the andrew marr show said we can get a bespoke trade deal, but very much underlined the kinds

ok then, thank you, emma vardy. the american rock star, tom petty, has revealed that his death last october was caused by an accidental drug overdose. he was found unconscious at his home in malibu, days after completing an extensive tour to mark the 40th anniversary of his band, the heartbreakers. the 66—year—old was on medication for a range of issues — including emphysema and a fractured hip. pope francis has used a visit to peru to sound a stark warning about the future of the amazon and its indigenous communities. the pontiff told the people of puerto maldonado that the region had never been so threatened by businesses keen to exploit it for oil, gas, food and gold. tribal elders called on him to help protect them from being driven from their lands. virginia langeberg reports. pope francis arrived in puerto maldonado, on the edges of the amazon rainforest, to a resoundingly warm reception, from those perhaps too young to fathom the scale of the issues their communities face. the pontiff was notjust a guest for

let's get more on this from our political correspondent emma vardy. good morning.hen we actually hear the words come out of actually hear the words come out of a president's mouth, actually saying what he thinks and being quite candid. absolutely. that's why eve ryo ne candid. absolutely. that's why everyone has been watching so closely. president macron's visit wasn't really about wrecks it but of course we will all be looking for clues as to how favourably france might look on britain when it comes to this difficult negotiations. theresa may has alway said that what britain wants is a trade deal with the eu that allows british businesses to continue trading... inaudible... you businesses to continue trading... inaudible. .. you need businesses to continue trading... inaudible... you need contribution to the budget and you have to accept the freedoms and the four pillows and you have to accept the jurisdiction. of course this was president macron's first visit to britain since being elected as french president, so his words are important. what we saw was britain a

emma vardy has this report.e expect fivelj wa nted the first time, he expect fivelj wanted to defend the northern federation of syria, the kurdish people in northern syria. once in syria, jamie relayed the newsday has family back on. he texted us with a picture of a kalashnikov and a camouflage uniform. i was rather horrified. since july, jamie has been with the kurds fighting against islamic state. how deep you know? i feel very proud of him. i admire him for doing it. now, the focus of the conflict has changed. for doing it. now, the focus of the conflict has changedlj for doing it. now, the focus of the conflict has changed. ijust found out very recently that turkey have launched an attack, and it is a place that needs to be defended. the kurds are being attacked by turkey on the northern syrian border. a group of international volunteers, includingjimmy and two group of international volunteers, including jimmy and two others from britain, said they are now going to fight against turkish forces. arguably doe