sarah smith, bbc news, edinburgh.wer blocks around the country have failed fire safety tests. the total now is 95, in more than 30 councils in england. the government has appointed a panel of experts to give advice on the immediate changes that can be made, to avoid another grenfell tower disaster. here's our home editor, mark easton. the grenfell tower fire is turning from sickening tragedy into national scandal. the blaze appears to be exposing hidden risks and confusion over fire safety that stretches across the country. every sample of cladding from 95 tower blocks, across 32 english local authorities, has now failed government tests — although the communities department, who ordered the testing, has named only 20 councils. the prime minister has said there needs to be a major national investigation. something has clearly gone wrong over a number of years and we need to find out what, why, and how to make sure it does not happen again. but there are questions about the testing process. cladding from this block in

our scotland editor, sarah smith, was watching.st in the minds of the audience tonight, security. tim farron was asked why he didn't support new internet surveillance powers. he said it would be counter—productive. powers. he said it would be counter-productive. the terrorists wa nt counter-productive. the terrorists want us to turn in on ourselves and to be divided as a country. they wa nt to be divided as a country. they want us to give up on our freedoms and liberties and those are the things we should not sacrifice otherwise the terrorists will have won. he was tackled on the economy and tax. how can the lib dems justify making every taxpayer pay 1p more tax? you can have platitudes from people who will tell you that they can solve the problem without any they can solve the problem without a ny extra they can solve the problem without any extra money or we they can solve the problem without any extra money oi’ we can they can solve the problem without any extra money or we can be honest and say that for the price of a cup of co

sarah smith, bbc news, hawick. in wales a0 seats are being contested. wales voted to leave. so now in this general election will it be issues associated with brexit that will be on voters' minds or will they be thinking of health and education as they make their mark our wales correspondent sian lloyd is in cardiff. anglesey — the constituency of ynys mon has changed hands three times in the past 35 years. labour is fighting to hold on here. it's a target seat for both plaid cymru and the conservatives. so in a seat that has swapped political colours so often, what are the choices influencing this art group on the island? the benefits have been cut drastically for a number of people and a lot of people i am aware of are struggling at the moment. i think this election is all about brexit. it's important for wales to get a good deal. like wales as a whole, people on anglesey voted to leave the european union. in the run—up to the referendum, ukip gained ground amongst welsh voters. this political expert believes what happens to that vote now could be impo

sarah smith, bbc news, edinburgh.he city council there has confirmed. the papers are for three constituencies. the bbc‘s political editor for the south—west, martyn oates has been following the story. we have heard from a number of vote rs we have heard from a number of voters who were disappointed and angry and concerned, that this close to polling day they had yet to receive the postal ballot papers they applied for. as you say, the city council have now confirmed that an unspecified number appeared to have gone astray. they have not yet told us how many and they have not said which constituencies are affected. the plymouth city council of the returning officer, will have coverage of three seats, south west devon, partially rural, that is extremely safe for the tories. the other two seats are marginal. in the case of one, the most marginal seat in the south—west and the tories held on to it with just over 500 votes last time. clearly, aside from theissue votes last time. clearly, aside from the issue of potentially

sarah smith, thank you.weeks before the grenfell tower tragedy, london fire—fighters had expressed their concerns about the panels being used to clad tower blocks. the bbc‘s learnt that the london fire brigade had written to councils across the capital warning them that it could cause a fire to spread up a building. 95 tower blocks — in 32 local authority areas — have now failed fire safety tests, and there are still many more to be tested. here's our home editor, mark easton. the grenfell tower fire is turning from sickening tragedy into national scandal. the blaze appears to be exposing hidden risks and confusion overfire safety that stretches across the country. every sample of cladding from 95 tower blocks, across 32 english local authorities, has now failed government tests — although the communities department, who ordered the testing, has named only 20 councils. the prime pinister has said there needs to be a major national investigation. something has clearly gone wrong over a number of years and we

sarah smith at new scotla nd pull together. sarah smith at new scotland yard.ction plan to tackle radicalisation within their communities. around 100 imams gathered near london bridge to condemn the recent terrorist atrocities in both the capital and manchester. they were joined by other faith leaders including those from jewish and christian communities at a makeshift memorial at the bridge. we muslims are grieving like anyone else in britain and it's really important for us to show to the wider public that we are in it together. an attack on london was an attack on all of us. it was an attacked on our shared values and it is only through coming together that we can undermine the evil ideology of isis. and what message do you wa nt to of isis. and what message do you want to send out? i want to send out a very strong message to wannabe extremists that you're not welcome in life or death in our community. isis represent a distorted version of islam and when you join isis, you are not a martyr, you are simply a criminaland are not a martyr, you are simply a crim

leader, tim farron, who fielded questions during a bbc question time special. 0ur scotland editor, sarah smithht, security. tim farron was asked why he didn't support new internet surveillance powers. he said it would be counter—productive. powers. he said it would be counter-productive. what are the terrorists want us to do? to turn in on ourselves and be divided as a country. what do they want us to do? to give up on our freedoms and country. what do they want us to do? to give up on ourfreedoms and our liberties and i —— those of the things we must not sacrificed otherwise the terrorists would have w011. otherwise the terrorists would have won. he was also tackled on the economy and tax. how can the liberal democrat make everyone pay an extra ip democrat make everyone pay an extra 1p of tax. you will have attitudes from people to say they will solve this problem without any money or we could be brutally honest and say by the price of a cup of coffee a week, we can have the best nhs and social ca re we can have the best nhs and social care in the world. snp leader nicola sturgeon was also as

different story for the snp, who, as we heard earlier from sarah smith, took nearly everything in scotlandt marginal snp seats, darting where it was closest, berwickshire, then dunbartonshire, edinburgh west and so on. even though those may be tied to hold onto, they could lose the first two columns and still be far and away the biggest party in scotland. so other parties are involved as well, in northern ireland, a wholly different situation going on there, the welsh nationalists, ukip, and the welsh nationalists, ukip, and the screens. the key thing tomorrow night is to watch the colours on the map, see how they change, and huw, see who is up and who is down! we will be watching, thanks very much, jeremy. as we've just heard, one of those labour seats being targeted by the conservatives, is halifax in west yorkshire. labour held onto it at the last election with a slim majority of under 500. and the voters of halifax supported leaving the eu in last year's referendum. our correspondentjeremy cooke has been to halifax to take the electoral temperature on the eve of the polling day. a town

sarah smith, bbc news, hawick. in wales forty seats are being contested.general election will it be issues associated with brexit that will be on voters' minds or will they be thinking of health and education as they make their mark at the ballot box. from cardiff, here's our wales correspondent sian lloyd. anglesey — the constituency of ynys mon has changed hands three times in the past 35 years. labour is fighting to hold on here. it's a target seat for both plaid cymru and the conservatives. so in a seat that has swapped political colours so often, what are the choices influencing this art group on the island? the benefits have been cut drastically for a number of people and a lot of people i am aware of are struggling at the moment. i think this election is all about brexit. it's important for wales to get a good deal. like wales as a whole, people on anglesey voted to leave the european union. in the run—up to the referendum, ukip gained ground amongst welsh voters. this political expert believes what happens to that vote now could be important in a n

sarah smith is at scotland yard for us sarah smith is at scotland yard for us this afternoon.up us this afternoon. you can bring us up to speed with the investigation as it stands. yes, there have been two sets of arrests overnight, one of them connected to the london bridge attacks, one of them not, but both to do with terrorism. just after 10pm last night in ilford, armed police, along with members of the matt's counterterrorism unit, picked up matt's counterterrorism unit, picked up two men on the street in ilford and another man from a house nearby. they are under arrest, being held at a police station in south london for questioning. 0ne a police station in south london for questioning. one of them, it was a drugs offence he has been arrested in connection with, the other two both suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. residential and business addresses there are being searched including a gym that one of the killers is said to have worked m, the killers is said to have worked in, and neighbours in that area talked about a large police operation that night, people be

thank you, sarah smith. conservatives they ended up with 28 seats, while the conservatives won eight, and plaid cymru won four. the liberal democrats lost their only welsh mp. the conservatives had initially hoped to make gains, especially in those areas which voted strongly to leave the eu. 0ur wales correspondent sian lloyd has more details. in gower this morning, the smiles of welsh labour said it all. the party's leader introducing two of their three new mps here. this seat was one they had been desperate to win back from the conservatives. we were told a few weeks ago that we would struggle in wales, that we would lose seats. he was the man who had led a very separate labour campaign in wales, but today carwyn jones was happy to acknowledge thejeremy corbyn factor in their successes here. we ran a welsh labour campaign in wales in tandem with the campaign across the rest of the uk. we listened, we worked hard, we produced a manifesto that people liked, and of course we saw us gaining seats in wales. lab

the snp won almost every parliamentary seat in scotland in 2015. 0ur scotland editor sarah smith hasndence, don't want it to define this campaign. nicola sturgeon would much rather talk about her opposition to tory cuts and what she says voting snp means. it means voting for mps who would stand against tory austerity. voting for mps who will stand up for investment in our public services. voting for mps who will protect the incomes of pensioners, who will protect the winter fuel allowance, the triple lock, and who will protect free personal care and stand against a dementia tax. they call this "the nicolopter," flying the snp leader to all the places her party looks weak. they are hoping to limit their losses at this election. nicola sturgeon believes theresa may will win the election but hopes to cut her majority. she called this election because she thought she could steam—roll the election and have a landslide. she has come across as weak and evasive and cannot answer basic questions. we can stop her getting a bigger majority and hold the tories in check. the scottish tories have

here's our scotland editor sarah smith. nicola sturgeon may not look like a woman thwarted.ot now march ahead with her plans for an independence referendum, admitting today that voters have rejected that idea and she has had to think again. having listened and reflected, the scottish government will reset the plan that i set out on march the 13th. we will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately. instead, we will, in good faith, redouble our effo rts will, in good faith, redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the brexit talks in a way that protect scotland's interests. she wants to keep open the option of a referendum after the brexit deal is cleared. the tories want her to abandon her plans completely. i'm afraid to say that that statement will fail to give any assurance to those people that this first minister is listening to them. instead, she appears to be in denial about her mistakes about this over the past yearand, asa mistakes about this over the past yearand, as a result, is leaking cred

and that was not the whole story — tonight our scotland editor, sarah smith, looks at the return of the one third of seats which hands, the direction of travel appears to change. 0ne direction of travel appears to change. one of the biggest surprises was a bit of a comeback for scottish labour. they won seven seats, with 27 percent share of the vote, up nearly 3%. they started to regain some of their more traditional hotlines. winning back gordon brown's kuldeep was hugely important and labour after the seismic shock of losing 40 of their scottish seats two years ago. they are still in third place in scotland but they suffer the wipe out many had feared. people voted labour in large numbers because they saw labour as an alternative to both the tories and the snp. i think the really interesting thing in scotland now is that you've got the snp in decline, you've got labour close to both the snp and the conservatives, and we're really back in the game. one important detail. in many of their seats like cal cordy and cowdenbeath that labour the tories took 13 seats across scotland. but it wa

sarah smith, thank you.wales, the labour party had a strong night taking back a number of seats from the conservatives. labour ended up with 28 seats, while the tories now have eight and plaid cymru won four. the liberal democrats lost their only welsh mp. the tories saw their hopes to make gains in pro—brexit areas dashed. our correspondent sian lloyd now reports on the picture in wales. in gower this morning, the smiles of welsh labour said it all. the party's leader introducing two of their three new mps here. this seat was one they had been desperate to win back from the conservatives. we were told a few weeks ago that we would struggle in wales, that we would lose seats. he was the man who had led a very separate labour campaign in wales, but today carwyn jones was happy to acknowledge thejeremy corbyn factor in their successes here. we ran a welsh labour campaign in wales in tandem with the campaign across the rest of the uk. we listened, we worked hard, we produced a manifesto that people liked, and o

our scotland editor sarah smith now on the picture in scotland and how the result may affect the snp‘ce today, nicola sturgeon knows her demand for another scottish referendum hasjust been rejected by scotland‘s voters. in scotland, the snp won this election. we have more seats than all of the other parties combined. however, it is an inescapable fact that we also suffered some bitterly disappointing losses last night. do you accept this result means there will not be a second referendum on independence any time soon? undoubtedly, the issue of an independence referendum was a factor in this election result but i think there were other factors as well. so i will reflect on that and come to considered judgments. as i say, i will say more about that in days to come. this is where, just three months ago, nicola sturgeon confidently demanded the right to have another referendum on scottish independence. that now looks like a significant mistake. she admits it is one reason why her party suffered significant losses, and now there seems almost no chance she will get that independence vote. d

the snp won almost every parliamentary seat in scotland in 2015. 0ur scotland editor, sarah smith, hasinburgh tonight. here in scotland, the campaign has been dominated by the question of scottish independence, because it is only three months since the snp called for a second referendum. but that has not proved as popular with voters as they might have hoped. the other parties have made their opposition to another independence vote absolutely central. there are flashing images in this report. the snp, the party defined by scottish independence don't want it to define this campaign. nicola sturgeon would much rather talk about her opposition to tory cuts and what she says voting snp means. it means voting for mps who would stand against tory austerity. voting for mps who would stand up for investments in our public services. voting for mps who would protect the incomes of pensioners, who would protect the winter fuel allowance, the triple lock and who would protect free personal care and stand against a dementia tax. they call this the nicolopter, flying the leader to many places. they

in the wake of the catastrophic grenfell tower fire... 0ur correspondent sarah smith is at new scotlandarge and complicated investigation by scotla nd complicated investigation by scotland yard detectives. yes, detective superintendent fiona maccormack, who is leading the investigation, today she told it is it was one of the largest and most complicated investigations the met has ever had to deal with, with more than 250 specialist investigators involved. she says the investigation will be exhaustive, but that it might still grow in scale and scope as they learn more and more about what has happened. she said for them, it was about two main points, how did the fire started on how did it spread? the fridge freezer, the government is carrying out its own investigations, and they‘ re government is carrying out its own investigations, and they're carrying out investigations at scotland yard. as for how it spread, they'd be looking at the cladding, which has caused so much concern over the days since the fire. they've carried out the investigations on the cladding and the insulation. just pr

our correspondent sarah smith is at new scotland yard for us. clear that this is a complex investigation with many strengths to it. yes, detective superintendent fiona mccormack is leading the investigation. she said 250 special solicitors are involved. this is the biggest and most coveted investigation the met has had to deal with. —— was compensated. she said it will be exhaustive and it may grow further. she said that there were two main things they were looking for, first of all, how do the fire starkers mac and secondly, how did it spread so quickly? as far as how it started, we heard that a hotpoint fridge freezer that they believe caused the fire. the government is carrying out its own tests now, scotland yard is carrying out further investigations. .2—mac, how did it spread so quickly? they looked at the cladding, which has caused so many concerns in the days since the fire. police have carried out their own tests on the installation, and they say even at the preliminary stage, both have failed safety tests with the insulation setting fi

our correspondent sarah smith is at new scotland yard for us.rmack is leading the investigation. she said that there are 250 specialist investigators involved, this is the biggest and most complicated investigation the met has had to deal with. angie said... —— and she said the investigation will be exhaustive and it may grow further. she said their work two main things they were looking at, first, how did the fire start? and secondly, how did it spread so quickly? as far as how it started, this morning, we have heard that it was the fridge freezer, a hotpoint fridge freezer that caused the fire. the government is carrying out its own tests, scotland yard is carrying out further investigations. two, howe did it spread so quickly called smack the cladding seems to have spread the fire. police have carried out their own tests on cladding and inflation, even at the preliminary tests, they say that both failed tests, with the insulation setting fire even faster than the cladding. they have seized documents from several organisations, several premise

sarah smith, thank you very much. the time is approaching half past two.ing week. predominantly dry with lots of sunshine coming through for some. just the remnants of yesterday's rain lingering. enjoy the sunshine if you've got it and it will feel quite pleasant, particularly in comparison to yesterday's weather with highs likely peaking at 20 degrees. at the end of the day, parts of wales and south—west england will start to see the arrival of more wet weather, bringing rain and wind through the night, steadily drifting its way northward. the heaviest of the rain a lwa ys northward. the heaviest of the rain always on the slopes, with the potential for not much of the rain in the south—eastern corner. gradually, the wet weather will be brought into the north, but the far north of scotland should stay dry as well. somewhat quieter conditions for friday and if we get some sunshine, a little bit warmer as well. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: parties return to their core themes as political leaders make a final push for votes across the country in th

our correspondent sarah smith is at new scotla nd correspondent sarah smith is at new scotland yard.s not been seen, since. his family were worried he might have gone into the river but they were hoping for a miracle. now there is news from the police that there is news from the police that the body has been recovered about 2.5 miles down river, at limehouse. police say that happened at 7:a5pm yesterday. specialist officers from the marine police unit found the body. formal identification has not yet ta ke n body. formal identification has not yet taken place but mr thomas's next of kin have been informed of developments. so we are assuming that it developments. so we are assuming thatitis developments. so we are assuming that it is mr thomas and that would ta ke that it is mr thomas and that would take the death toll up to eight. as far as the police investigation is concerned, they have had search warrants in ilford in east london overnight. at 1:30am they arrested a man in his 30s. he has been held for questioning at a police station in south london. they have two people under arr

sarah smith, bbc news, maidenhead. it is time for the weather.er has gone? i know what is coming!, sjekloca with the miserable news. the weather, it is a little bit to be honest this week. it will be a little bit exhausting with the cloud and the rain that's heading our way and the rain that's heading our way and there is a real heavy rain area of rain heading towards south—eastern parts of the uk right now. it has been raining. i was out earlier. a bit of everything. across the country it has been cloudy and damp. this is where we have had thunderstorms in the last few hours across east anglia. lots of heavy rain head to go central and southern england. it looks like the rush hour will be particularly soggy across the south. watch out if you're travelling here, there could be a lot of surface on the fast routes. nasty, nasty weather and that rain will be slowly moving into the midlands and northwards through the course of the night. not so much across scotland and northern ireland. then that damp weather with rain on and off during the course of

here's our scotland editor sarah smith.ok like a woman thwarted, but she cannot now march ahead with her plans for an independence referendum — admitting today that voters have rejected that idea and she has had to think again. having listened and reflected, the scottish government will reset the plan i set out on march the 13th. we will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately. instead, we will, in good faith, redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the brexit talks in a way that protects scotland's interests. we will seek to build... she wants to keep open the option of a referendum after the brexit deal is cleared. the tories want her to abandon her plans completely. i'm afraid to say that that statement will fail to give any assurance to those people that this first minister is listening to them. instead, she appears to be in denial about her mistakes over this last year and, as a result, is leaking credibility and confidence in her leadershi

we can talk to our reporter sarah smith now. what do you know?nfolded. we have heard a bit about what they will be doing today. they will be at the arena itself and meeting venue's and security staff, and the medical teams who were there before anyone else there. we sometimes forget them when we think about the emergency services. they will be meeting british transport police, greater manchester police, the ambulance and fire services. and then they are off to manchester town hall. they are taking part in a round table discussion with community leaders and young people to talk about the impact it has had on them. and we saw the way the city seemed to come together in the days and weeks following the attack. they will be meeting medical staff from the eight hospitals involved in treating patients. thank you. now the rest of the news withjoanna. the bbc has been told the confidence and supply deal between the minority conservative government and the democratic unionists is expected to be announced in the next couple of hours. the dup leader arlene

. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ >> sheperd smith. sarahn off camera briefing to reporters right now. but the white house embargoed the audio until after it's over. today is a key deadline in the republican healthcare effort. we'll take you live to the white house and capitol hill. that's coming up on shepherd smith reporting. >> julie: one of the sticking points for a number of republican holdouts on the senate healthcare bill is funding to address the nation's growing opioid epidemic. majority leader mitch mcconnell trying to get senators back on board by adding $45 billion to the bill for addiction treatments and prevention. trace gallagher is live with more on that. hi, trace. >> reporter: for sure the opioid epidemic is a top priority for the jump administration and with good reason. last year 30,000 americans died from an opioid overdose. that's about equal to the number of people who were killed in traffic accidents. and according to the national institutes of health between 2010 and 2015 diagnosis for opioid addiction went up more t

adam smith is standing by and our correspondent specialist they also are standing by. first, let's go to our white house correspondent sarah murray. sarah, the president keeps tweeting and it is causing him trouble. >> that's right. setting off a debate about whether or not we should pay attention to the president's tweets, some top aides say we are obsessing over them. but sarah huckabee sanders says this is how the president speaks directly to the american public. either way a debate focused on his twitter at rather than insti infrastructure that was supposed to be a push. >> tonight president trump is trampling his own agenda. >> today we are proposing to take american air travel into the future, finally. finally. >> after the administration teased a week of infrastructure focused events. the president deveiled that strategy with a fiery tweet storm. trump using the terror attack in london to slam his own justice department. tweeting, the justice should have stayed with the original travel ban, not watered town politically correct version they submitted to supreme court. this as trump administration after lower courts r

sarah: all right. another busy day. the president will be holding that rally in iowa tonight. stay tuned for that on the fox news channel. thanks for joining us. i'm sandra smith shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 in flint, michigan where there is word the fbi is looking at terrorism as a possible motive for the stabbing of a police officer at the airport. a live update straight ahead. also, the former homeland security secretary says the russian president vladimir putin ordered the hacking of the u.s. election calling the interference unprecedented. a current homeland security official revealed how many states the russians targeted. the white house still will not say whether president true even believes moscow's meddling happened. we can soon see the senate healthcare plan. some republicans still say they don't know what is in it. can gop leaders pass a bill before the july 4

matt smith, you have clearly said no, it's not time to end the pay freeze. sarahsarahjames is a council employee, tell her why it isn't the right time. the problem is what you are looking at which is that if you spend more than you earn eventually you will go broke so we have not seen austerity in this country. we have seen a minor reduction of the deficit, the debt is not going down, there are so many more important things that we need to pay for. like what? the institute for fiscal studies said public sector workers earn more than their counterparts in the private sector. we have executives on more pay than the prime minister, locally in norfolk re ce ntly we prime minister, locally in norfolk recently we had an executive get a £250,000 payoff, that is where we should be cutting. i don't think public sector pay will rise because people in the private sector are not seeing it, certainly not in great yarmouth where i am. like matt, tony, you run your own private company, you say the public sector pay freeze should be relaxed. why? it's a difficult situation we fin

sarah: all right. another busy day. the president will be holding that rally in iowa tonight. stay tuned for that on the fox news channel. thanks for joining us. i'm sandra smith. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 in flint, michigan where there is word the fbi is looking at terrorism as a possible motive for the stabbing of a police officer at the airport. a live update straight ahead. also, the former homeland security secretary says the russian president vladimir putin ordered the hacking of the u.s. election calling the interference unprecedented. a current homeland security official revealed how many states the russians targeted. the white house still will not say whether president true even believes moscow's meddling happened. we can soon see the senate healthcare plan. some republicans still say they don't know what is in it. can gop leaders pass a bill before the july 4 break? deadly weather. a record heat wave in the severe weather. tropical storm cindy claims a life before making landfall. target, texas, louisiana, mississippi, bam, the florida panhandle and eventually arkansas, tennessee, kentucky and the carolinas. 18 millio