iain watson in westminster.d calls from the public about a new suspect in the madeleine mccann case. german police say they believe madeleine — who disappeared in portugal in 2007 — is dead, and are investigating a convicted sex offender who's in prison in germany. let's get the latest now from our correspondent gavin lee, who's in praia da luz in portugal. hello to you. tell us more about the public response since the german police told us that they were looking at this individual as a suspect. clearly it's made an impact in the last 48 hours since this german equivalent of crimewatch was aired stop in germany they say 5 million people watched and they have had "very useful information" as a result. they are still getting calls in the uk. police saying they have had almost 300 calls now and i still getting calls and e—mails. they have put upa getting calls and e—mails. they have put up a £20,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of the person, persons are responsible for the disappearance of m

iain watson is our political correspondent waiting patiently for me. opposition on the conservative benches what struck me. certainly the quarantine measures as trailed will be introduced next week. this will be introduced next week. this will be introduced next week. this will be a blanket quarantine. we will be a blanket quarantine. we will then get people expected to self—isolate for 1h days when they come to britain, either as british residents or as visitors, having to fill out forms in advance, and the policy will be reviewed week beginning 28th ofjune, so that is what was expected. although there has been some criticism across westminster about the way the policy is being introduced, i think the extent of it as we say from the conservative benches perhaps took me by surprise. liam fox they are, of course a medical doctor, saying the government was indulging in mental gymnastics over this policy because they did not impose it when there is a threat from the virus, now imposing it on countries which have a lower infection rate than the united kingd

iain watson, bbc news.ed from coronavirus in the us, and hundreds of new deaths are still being recorded every day. but in new york, until recently the global epicentre, life is starting to emerge from lockdown. people have been shopping, getting their hair cut, and eating at outdoor cafes, as our north america correspondent nick bryant reports. in the midst of this viral onslaught, new york has taken on a different character. its state of mind has been anxious and fretful. a city of the outspoken and rambunctious has been muted, behind protective masks. this morning, new york took its biggest step yet towards reopening, but it was farfrom being a stampede. though offices were allowed to welcome back staff, the quietness of this covid rush hour suggested many still are working from home. this was times square during the big apple lockdown, and this was the scene today — new yorkers still clearly uneasy about gathering at the so—called "crossroads of the world". people are still nervous, u nfortu nately. we

iain watson, bbc news. the total number of deaths in the uk to 41,698. given the continuing deaths and infections, any decision to relax the two metre measure remains controversial. so what is the difference in risk between staying two metres apart or one? 0ur science editor, david shukman, explains. the scientists advising the government say that staying safe from the virus involves several different factors. the most obvious is distance. they reckon that being one metre apart can be up to ten times riskier than being two metres apart, but timing is also important. spending more than 15 minutes close together will increase the chances of infection, as does being face to face, which can be as risky two metres apart as it is being back—to—back with someone at one metre. and indoors, ventilation is a crucial factor. the simulation shows how, when someone coughs, the virus could be spread around the room by the air conditioning. but in this scenario, an open window brings in fresh air, which dilutes the virus

iain watson is at westminster for us.stics authority, which has accused them of not exactly massaging the figures but using them perhaps to their advantage? that's right, effectively what they said was that the figures produced by the government were incomplete, difficult to understand, and the aim seems to be to try to get the highest number possible out there when it came to testing. for example, there was a specific criticism that the figures we here at the press conferences were about the number of tests carried out and testing kits sent out, not the number of testing kits that are returned. and the number of tests carried out, some people need to be tested more than once. sir david norgrove, who chairs the uk statistics authority, says he wants clearer statistics including the number of people actually tested. matt hancock was not at all keen to get into a war of words with the statistics authority and said they we re statistics authority and said they were working with them and the statistics were presented at the b

tom symonds, bbc news, central london. 0ur political correspondent iain watson joins us now. pm making it very clear who he thought was responsible for the violence? that's right. as we saw there was some black lives matter protests in different parts of the country today but the prime minister absolutely crystal clear on who he thought was to blame on the attacks on police in westminster. it was this that he denounced as racist agree. he has of course criticise those antiracist protesters who brought down a statue in bristol and i think when he says the demonstrations are being hijacked by extremists, he wants to seem to be evenhanded in his condemnation. tonight the labour leader also said no ifs, no buts, all attacks on the police are unacceptable so at that level there isa unacceptable so at that level there is a political consensus. i can tell you not that far underneath the radar conservative mps in particular are getting radar conservative mps in particular a re getting restless. radar conservative mps in particular are getting restless. although today's demonstrations

our political correspondent iain watson reports. set to announce that two will become one. the guidance to stay two metres apart where possible is likely to be halved — in england. borisjohnson will brief the cabinet on the results of a rapid review into the two metres guidance, and is expected to tell them it will change by the july the 4th, the day that further restrictions will be eased. the prime minister has been under pressure from the hospitality industry and many of his own mps to change the social distancing rules amid fears that some businesses would otherwise be unviable. so from early next month, england will feel very different. pubs and restaurants reopening, along with cinemas, galleries and museums — and if you're planning a staycation, well, hotels and bed and breakfasts will be allowed to put up their vacancy sign. but businesses and entertainment venues will only be allowed to open if they're covid secure. so as we see in supermarkets now, in some settings there could be screens if you're likely to come close to s

iain watson, bbc news. we can speak now to the labour mp for birmingham ladywood, shabana mahmood.hink is meant by that, specifically? there were, as your report said, factors at play in the 2019 election itself so leadership issues and the manifesto seen as non—deliverable. but this defeat was two decades in the making. if you look at some of the seats that changed hands, we had been losing vote share to the tories, who had been gaining support in some of those seats including brother barry since 2001. that speaks for nearly two decades, we have been losing support that had been traditional, hartland seats. lots of disaffection with the labour party, the industrialisation and other forces are at play and that is why we find, and it is a warning for our party, simply changing the leader or dealing with the brexit issue will probably not be the key issue will probably not be the key issue of the 2024 election, or streamlining the manifesto and has a clearer sense of priorities on their own, those things won‘t be enough u nless we own, those things won‘t be enough unless we deal with

let's get more from our political correspondent iain watson.s the london demonstration is concerned, given the possibility there would be a far right counterdemonstration, perhaps people should stay away but some demonstrations nevertheless are expected and planned and the prime minister has intervened ahead of that on two fronts, first of all on statues. he defends winston churchill. he says they may have expressed opinions that would not be a cce pta ble expressed opinions that would not be acceptable today but he was a hero that saved the country from a fascist and racist tyranny and it is absurd that the statue should be under threat this weekend. they are also making it very clear that he didn't believe we should be rewriting history and editing and censoring the past. but also he had a warning about people who may well wa nt to ta ke a warning about people who may well want to take part in some of the demonstrations this weekend. he said they were being hijacked by extremists and he also said that the only responsible course of action was

here's our political correspondent iain watson. i washed my hands on the way in.the coronavirus crisis, borisjohnson wa nts to coronavirus crisis, borisjohnson wants to shift the political ground onto the economy. when you are in a hole the size of this, keep digging. about he promised to direct more cash today to areas in england that feel overlooked. that it wants to see a boom in building project he hopes in turn will also please people who voted for his party for the first time in 2019. this government is determined to use this crisis finally to tackle this country's greater unresolved challenges of the last three decades. to build the homes, to fix the nhs, to solve social care, to tackle the skills crisis, to unite and level up. and to that end we will build, build, build. he is promising to bring forward 5 billion p promising to bring forward 5 billion p worth of projects, maintaining and improving hospital buildings, repairing schools and colleges, upgrading some roads and bridges and, to provide a green tinge, planting 75,000 and, to provide a green tinge

iain watson, bbc news.nt borrowing hits a record monthly high of £55 billion in may, as the coronavirus continued to press heavily on the public finances. non—essential shops can re—open in wales from monday — more details on the easing of lockdown will be announced later today. four months ago, the northern italian region of lombardy became the global epicentre of coronavirus as it saw the first major outbreak in europe. as key mistakes were made, the virus engulfed one of the continent's wealthiest corners and sparked cases around the world. 0ur correspondent mark lowen, who has reported on the story from the start, has returned to lombardy, to ask what went wrong. it's four months since lombardy became the wuhan of the west, its sufferings seared into memory. the virus throttled, taking hold in europe and exporting cases around the world. let's get the very latest on the situation in northern italy. 0ur correspondent mark lowen is in... i've reported on the story from the start. now, i'm back to report o

iain watson, bbc news. it's been a week to forget for president trump.dia storm with both facebook and twitter and now the supreme court has ruled that he can't throw out legislation that protects child migrants from deportation. david willis reports. protesters chant. it came as a ray of light to the dreamers, and a slap in the face for the president. i'm so happy... the threat of deportation lifted, for now at least. the nation's highest court rejecting the trump administration's attempt to end protections for some 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants. i will immediately terminate president 0bama's illegal executive order on immigration. the decision, a major blow to a president who made immigration reform a centrepiece of his run for office, branding the supreme court's verdict horrible and politically charged. social media has also proved a battle ground for donald trump on occasions, and twitter has once again added a warning label to a presidential tweet, this time one that featured a video criticising the news media. facebook also announced it w

iain watson, thank you.ay tribute to the hard workers this morning who have turned it back to its former glory, but it wasn‘t this way yesterday. the place was deluged and social distancing went out of the window. that was why a major incident was declared, because the local authority and the police couldn‘t cope. the beach should have been at least shutdown to further people from entering. we need to learn from this and recognise that if we are serious about tackling the pandemic, we need to be swifter in providing support to local authorities that can‘t cope. support to local authorities that can't cope. is it correct that police did issue a dispersal order yesterday? it is, exactly where i am standing on this peer and boss compare further down the beach, to push people away because they were simply to close. i would urge the creation of a situation centre that can monitor events across the country. on the ath ofjuly, we are going to add alcohol to this equation as well, don‘t forget. i would hate to see b

earlier, i spoke to iain watson in westminster.resident of the european commission. the prime minister will be speaking to the eu commission and the eu parliament and the eu council that represents the member states on monday, and the message will be much the same. but what michael gove was also saying was that in effect, the government would have to take some pragmatic and flexible measures at the end of that transition period and that amounts to not actually doing some customs and border checks on goods as they come into britain for a further six months. they are also announcing that today they are sorting out the infrastructure on the border. they might need more customs infrastructure, there might have to be new facilities in land if they couldn't cram it into existing british ports. so michael gove was asked whether, in fact, as somebody who had advocated brexit and had been in charge no—deal brexit, whether there really was a failure to prepare. from the ist ofjanuary next year, we will be outside a customs union and outside

let's get more on this from our political correspondent iain watson. shows that keir starmer is prepared to make a quick and decisive decision when needed. but lots of people are saying, was this needed and what kind of problems is it going to cause in the party? do you think he will be able to answer those questions when he meets mps this morning? i think in the labour party as elsewhere in politics, you often find that every solution brings a problem. so he is showing leadership, but in doing so he will be denounced by those who disagree with him. from his point of view, i imagine he would be saying to his mps, think of the counterfactual. if jewish groups such as the board of deputies of britishjews and the campaign against anti—semitism are pressing him for robust action when rebecca long—bailey shared a tweet which effectively was retreating an article that keir starmer himself that was propagating an anti—semitic conspiracy theory, if he had taken no action, he would probably have had the same kind of bad press that jeremy corbyn suffered over th

iain watson at westminster.acturing capacity and can now work on making two billion doses. after striking a number of deals that include two health organisations backed by bill and melinda gates. the new deals are aimed at guaranteeing early supply of the vaccine to lower income countries. astrazeneca's chief executive spoke to the bbc earlier about how any future vaccine would be distributed. we are actually working together. by the way, i think that competition is good. i mean, competition generates innovation and new ideas and makes people work fast. in that instance, we are not competing with one another, we are competing against this virus and there is a lot of collaboration that is ongoing across industry, so we can deliver several vaccines by the fall and before the end of this year. if you are in the uk and you want to know how many coronavirus cases have beenin know how many coronavirus cases have been in yourarea, know how many coronavirus cases have been in your area, find out by going to the bbc news

we're joined by our political correspondent iain watson. ew deal similar to the measures taken to bring america out of the great depression in the 1930s under franklin d roosevelt and certainly the prime minister is putting substantial sums of money into infrastructure. billions of pounds over the course of parliament, 5 billion has now been identified. in terms of scale we should have a brief reality check and just looking at this, 35,000 project were authorised under franklin d roosevelt in the united states in their new deal and what the prime minister is talking about there was 50 school projects, 29 roadbuilding projects and 101 towns identified for money to renovate town centres. so it is not quite the same scale. politically what he is trying to do is to try and reach across the party divide as roosevelt did in the 1930s and appeal to those areas that feel neglected or unloved. those areas that perhaps people voted conservative for the first time in 2019. labour issue a warning, they say you cannotjust load your way back to economic h

our political correspondent iain watson reports. boris iain watson reports.on is set to announce that borisjohnson is set to announce that two will become one. the guidance to stay two metres apart where possible is likely to be halved. in england. borisjohnson will brief the cabinet on the results of a rapid review entity to meet metre guidance, and is expected to tell them it will change by the fourth ofjuly, to tell them it will change by the fourth of july, the to tell them it will change by the fourth ofjuly, the day that further restrictions will be eased. the prime minister has been under pressure from the hospitality industry and many of his own mps to change the social distancing rules amid fears that some businesses would otherwise be unviable. so from early next month, england will feel very different. pubs and restaurants reopening, along with cinemas, galleries and museums, and if you're planning a steak asian, well, hotels and bed and breakfasts will be able to put up our vacancy sign. —— staycation. but businesses and entertainment venues will

iain watson is our political correspondent. who might be unwell. explain more. it is complicated and worth going through guidance. alec sharma looked in some distress yesterday in the commons, mopping his brow. he has been tested for coronavirus and the government is committed to getting test back within 24 hours but we do not know if his will be delivered within 24 hours. we are still awaiting confirmation he has coronavirus, for example a cabinet colleague suggested he might have had a bad bout of hay fever so we will await medical advice. the second thing to say is he had this 45 minute meeting with the prime minister and chancellor in downing street ahead of the cabinet on tuesday before he was showing symptoms. when contact tracing takes place, assuming he was found to be infected, there is guidance how that will proceed. for example, you should really have to be in close contact with people at a distance of less than two metres for 15 minutes or more before you have to say that contact of yours has to be traced and inform

our political corespondent iain watson is in westminster.understands the feelings of those worried about the feelings of those worried about the death of george floyd. his dying words, i can't breathe, have awakened an angerand words, i can't breathe, have awakened an anger and a widespread and incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice, a feeling that people from black and minority ethnic groups do face discrimination in education, employment, in the application of criminal law. and we who leads and who govern simply can't ignore those feelings, because in too many cases, i'm afraid, they will be founded cold reality. boris johnson also said he believed britain was far less of a racist country than in the 19705, great progress has been made that there was a lot more to do. labour say they want to see action, notjust words, from the prime minister. but there were words designed to appeal to some of his own conservative mps who were keen to hear from the to some of his own conservative mps who were keen to hearfrom the prime minister a

iain watson, bbc news.another country, that's according to its prime minister, scott morrison. he declined to say which country might be responsible but said that all levels of government had been targeted. our sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil can tell us more. lovely to see you but worrying news and lots of speculation about which country or who is behind this and what data has been accessed. good morning. yes, ithink what data has been accessed. good morning. yes, i think the prime minister was really clear about the scale and the nature saying all levels of government, political health educational organisations have been targeted by this sophisticated state cyber actor and he said this was effectively a state—sponsored operation because of the scale of it, the nature of the targeting and also because not many countries are capable of such operations. it was not clear is why scott morrison chose this moment to make this announcement. the attacks have been going on for a few months. he made a similar an

our political correspondent, iain watson is in westminster this morning. ds from the prime minister? yes, particularly struck by his strongly worded suite on this where he said some of these demonstrations had been "subverted by thuggery" — "and they are a portrayal of the cause they want to serve". they have a right to protest peacefully, he said, but they have no right to attack the police. we had pretty —— priti patel who said she was sickened by the levels of violence she had seen. many of the protests had been peaceful. nonetheless, they have been marred i specific incidents, particularly that pulling down of the statue in bristol, the slave trader edward colson, she said that was an act of sheer vandalism. indeed, some politicians across the political spectrum that it should have been a democratic decision by the people of this talk as to whether that statue remained was removed. interestingly, the shadow justice secretary david langley was pointing out that there was racism in the uk as well as the us and that this moment, these demonstrations, this

iain watson there. we'll be speaking to the transport secretary grant shapps at 7:30am.ct business as usual when dentists are allowed to reopen in england on monday, due to a shortage of protective equipment. nhs england insists it's continuing to work with dentists, but the british dental association says a survey of 2,000 practices suggests only a third are ready to carry out routine appointments. we are in a situation where many of my colleagues are really quite stressed with the timelines they have been given to actually deliver face—to—face services for patients. we are delighted we have been given the opportunity, we haven't really had the support we need, i don't think. many of my colleagues are reporting that monday is a deadline to reopen is not really something that they will be able to hit. the luxury car maker bentley is to cut 1,000 jobs in the uk, about a quarter of its workforce. the firm's manufacturing site at crewe is working at half its normal capacity because of a downturn in sales. bentley, which is owned by volkswagen, is expected to give more detai

let's get more on this from our political correspondent iain watson.ers congratulated by some the action. others have expressed concern that it is going to cause splits in the party. how much work do you think he has to do at this meeting with mps to convince those who are not convinced that he made the right decision? he will have quite a lot of work to do because he stood on a platform of party unity when he was elected as leader and now some on the left are saying he is undermining that unity by getting rid of his leading opponent and one of the leading supporters of the former leadership ofjeremy corbyn, rebecca long—bailey. she was perhaps the most prominent corbyn supporting mp in the shadow cabinet. they have worries that go beyond this specific sacking. there are worries about whether he is trying to marginalise the left of the party. they are worried about a new senior official joining the party, the new general secretary, who used to work on the tony blair's leadership. they are worried of the party and they are worried of the party and they

we can speak now to our political correspondent iain watson.in westminster is about the home secretary's announcement about a 1k day quarantine pond not much support for her ideas in the chamber?” quarantine pond not much support for her ideas in the chamber? i think what was astonishing was the level of criticism from conservative benches rather than from the opposition. certainly the opposition raised a number of issues but conservative mps were hugely critical and it will be interesting when the prime minister is asked about this policy in about half an hour by the public and the press. off the record here at westminster, people are saying that this is a policy very much made in downing street, something the prime minister wa nted street, something the prime minister wanted and to be honest, other ministers are trying to introduce a bit of social distancing from the policies themselves! does the home secretary read to front up in the house of commons and she took a bit ofa house of commons and she took a bit of a pasting, for example the bom

iain watson is our political correspondent. he's political correspondent. at westminster.stions, he's at westminster. lots of questions, one suspects, at the briefing today for the prime minister and his various meetings in the last few days with alok sharma. yes, people obviously concerned if the prime minister has to go into isolation all over again. he did have a 45 minute meeting, he and the chancellor rishi sunak, with alok sharma head of the cabinet but in the cabinet room. we are told the cabinet room has been vigorously cleaned, but as far as i'm concerned i suspect if downing street are correct in saying the meeting was socially distanced, in other words they were more than two metres apart, it is unlikely the prime minister would have to go into isolation. at this stage we don't yet know if alok sharma is suffering from coronavirus. yesterday he was mopping his brow and looked distressed, but his colleague suggested he may have had a heavy bout of hay fever. he is awaiting his test results. we will get a health update later today but we haven't had that as yet. i

iain watson, bbc news.into the two metre rule comes as 36 more deaths from coronavirus were reported in the latest 24—hour period in hospitals, care homes and in the wider community. it brings the total number of deaths in the uk to 41,698. given the continuing deaths and infections, any decision to relax the two metre measure remains controversial. so what is the difference in risk between staying two metres apart or one? our science editor, david shukman, explains. the scientists advising the government say that staying safe from the virus involves several different factors. the most obvious is distance. they reckon that being one metre apart can be up to ten times riskier than being two metres apart, but timing is also important.

our political correspondent iain watson reports.et to announce that two will become one. the guidance to stay two metres apart where possible is likely to be halved — in england. borisjohnson will brief the cabinet on the results of a rapid review into the two metres guidance, and is expected to tell them it +
distancing rules amid fears that some businesses

here's our political correspondent, iain watson. i washed my hands on the way in.after his handling of the coronavirus crisis, borisjohnson now wants to shift the political ground onto the economy. when you are in a hole the size of this, the only option is to keep digging. today he promised to direct more cash to areas in england that feel overlooked. he wants to see a boom in building project which he hopes in turn will also build up support from people who voted for his party for the first time in 2019. this government is determined to use this crisis finally to tackle this country's great unresolved challenges of the last three decades. to build the homes, to fix the nhs, to solve social care, to tackle the skills crisis, to unite and level up. and to that end, we will build, build, build. he is promising to bring forward £5 billion worth of projects, maintaining and improving hospital buildings, repairing schools and colleges, upgrading some roads and bridges and, to provide a green tinge to the policy, planting 75,000 trees each year. in the name of the peopl

laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is at westminster. it was quickly put it out to them why so many people would be offended by this. there was more -- the speed with which she issued a clarification. the shadow justice secretary, david lammy, made clear how embarrassing it was for the foreign secretary. he said this started when the american football players refused to stand to protest american police brutality. sensibly, he did not comment any further when he did not comment any further when he was out to do so but got that tweet out making it clear he respected people's rights to take the knee, as it were, and he also from his point of view made it very clear he also understood that black lives matter movement. but ethic the criticism of the government is, has it respond quick enough? the criticisms have been, borisjohnson has put up a commission to look at inequality. nonetheless, it was curtis eyes for being pushed out with no remit and no idea for the commissioners were, so anything which shows a lack of understanding of how this m

let's talk to our political correspondent iain watson.r going through sector assert a sector of the changes that are coming in in the last few days. that's right the biggest easing of the lockdown in england before the virus peak since march. so it's very, very significant and certainly the prime minister has moved to listen to many of his own members of parliament and hotel industry that the social distancing guidance will have to be changed. it's not one metre although stressing with mitigations. at his press c0 nfe re nce stressing with mitigations. at his press conference i think, he's toned bya press conference i think, he's toned by a large is quite upbeat. he said had still love to do all the things you can't do yet in england including playing cricket and so on. there are still restrictions and plays on swimming pools, and a range of other areas. in a sense proceeding with caution. it sounded to me as though the medical and scientific advisers sounded even more cautious still than the last of their regular daily press conference u