marc ashdown, i that. yes, they certainly. would. marc ashdown, as that.s urged people to slow down and reflect on issues which connect each other at christmas. in a personal message — recorded for her carol service at westminster abbey — the princess also encouraged the world to turn to love, not fear. 0ur senior royal correspondent daniela relph has more. the princess of wales came to this year's carol service after a challenging year. like so many others whojoined her here. with her children and husband, she described christmas as a moment to slow down and reflect on the deeper things that connect us all. she has recorded some of the voice—over being used in tonight's broadcast. join me for this christmas eve for a special carol service to celebrate all those who've show love, empathy and kindness in our communities this year. this is a personal project for the princess of wales and supporting her with the music has been lady gabriella windsor. earlier this year, her husband took his own life. the princess said she was incredibly grateful for lady gabri

marc ashdown reports.ne in four cars sold in the uk right now is electric, but there remains a strong dose of scepticism from some about the idea of switching. i'm living in a block of flats and we really don't have an option to charge electric cars there just yet. we have family in scotland so i need to make regular trips to scotland so it wouldn't be suitable for me. when you get outside of london, there's not that many charging. stations, so that's probablyl the reason i wouldn't get it. and also the price point is crazy. - solving some of those issues is what the government wants from an eight—week consultation, canvassing views from the industry about how policies can be shaped to help make electric vehicles cheaper and easier for manufacturers to build, and for drivers to buy and run. under the zero emission vehicle mandate, 22% of cars and 10% of vans a manufacturer sold in 2024 had to be electric, with big fines for those who failed to comply. next year the target ramps up to 28% for cars and 16% f

here's marc ashdown.but as the cold weather takes hold, he's still waiting for it to be processed, leaving him out of pocket. at the moment, it's costing me £190 a month in lost revenue which i'm having to make up from my own savings accounts. because the total benefit that i was receiving before reaching my 66th birthday, some of those benefits have now ended and i applied for pension credit to make up the difference. worth around £4,000 a year itself, the pension credit is also a gateway to receiving the winter fuel payment. last winter, 10.8 million pensioners received between £200 and £300, depending on their age, to help towards paying their energy bills. but in september, the government won a vote in parliament to restrict the payment to those receiving certain benefits, like pension credit. at the time, department for work and pensions analysis showed 780,000 pensioners who could qualify for the benefit weren't expected to actually apply for it. since the end ofjuly, it has received 150,000 fresh a

marc ashdown, bbc news.nment. the legislation was passed in the early hours of saturday morning, after two previous attempts had failed. peter bowes reports. the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. a sigh of relief for more than 3 million us government workers. many americans feared that christmas would be overshadowed by a damaging federal shutdown with no pay for some and reduced services. this was the third attempt to agree a spending plan after donald trump and his government efficiency tsar, the billionaire elon musk, intervened to scupper the bill in its originalform. but with hours to go before the government ran out of money, a deal. after days of wrangling, republicans and democrats agreed on a plan that will fund the government for the next three months. there's money for essential services, as well as disaster relief and aid for farmers. the bill passed in congress but the president—elect appeared to be calling the shots. i was in constant contact w

for more on this we're joined now by our business correspondent marc ashdown. joined now by our business by our business is the end of the year, �* are it is the end of the year, we are trying to work out where we are trying to work out where we are individually and in the wider economy. we had interest rates being held yesterday and a lot of economic data out at the minute. borrowing is something we take the temperature of to look at the temperature of to look at the national finances. generally, water gets the nationalfinances. generally, water gets in, the national finances. generally, water gets in, the government, doesn't cover what it has to spend, so it has to borrow money. in november edits borrowed £ii.8 borrow money. in november edits borrowed £11.8 billion. that figure was down from the 17.4 billion in october and the lowest octoberfigure billion in october and the lowest october figure for three years, and to bring in less than was forecast. the reasons are the tax take increased and the interest on the amount the government has borrowed went down. a bit of an early christmas

our business correspondent, marc ashdown, reports.r his 25 years in the fabric business, rick has learned to take the rough with the smooth. 2024 has been a tougher year than most, with more and more customers cutting back on their discretionary spending on things like clothing. we're starting to see, you know, in the winter, we've had a change of government, budgets have changed, and it's got tougher and tougher, and we just want to hear more good news, not bad news. wejust want... and i feel the customers want the same. they want small businesses to survive. the economy was up and down throughout 2023 and, after tipping into a brief but shallow recession at the end of the year, bounced back strongly at the start of this year. it has slowed down since and shrank by 0.1% in september, and now again in october. these monthly figures, though, can fluctuate, so economists are much more interested in the four quarterly readings. again, the economy started the year really strongly but has trailed off, so there's a lot riding on the next fe

marc ashdown, bbc news.ng winds will come into force for much of the uk today as millions of people take to the roads and railways ahead of christmas. the met office has issued yellow warnings for northern england and scotland, which are likely to affect some buses and trains. the aa says nearly 23 million car journeys will be made today and trafficjams are likely. patients�* charities have accused the health service of unfairly penalising sick people after it was revealed that more than a quarter of nhs trusts in england increased parking costs. nhs providers, which represents trusts, says many are under huge financial pressure and cannot afford to maintain car parks without charging to use them. the government has announced plans to end the use of pesticides that harm bees. sugar beet farmers have been given special permission to protect their crops with neonicotinoids for the past four years but ministers now say they're working on legislation to ban their use completely. queen's bohemian rhapsody and ban