whitehaven comparing favorably with last year.e am a boosted by coal prices, revenues up 43%, whitehaven signaling better to come saying the second half will be higher than the first half. still no dividend. , atehaven off a little today lot of gains priced in on thursday. as for santos, $63 million, now pricing in u.s. dollars. the net loss narrowing to $1 billion for the full year, down from $1.9 billion, mainly due to a write-down they took in august on the gladstone lng plant. the ceo saying there is pleasing progress but more to be done. he said in december that santos may look at selling a package of long corporate assets -- non-core assets as a part of profit restructuring. rishaad: thank you very much indeed. australian earnings season two will look at that, the fed, let's get to our next guest. contango asset management, george, great to see you. let's start off with your take on the earnings the season so far, particularly these banks. australia, debts lower than expected, therefore looking healthy and ok, but the issue

john pienaar, bbc news, whitehaven.nd copeland by elections, visit our website at bbc.co.uk/politics. a brief look at some of the day's other news stories. the uk's biggest domestic energy supplier, british gas, has said it will freeze its prices until the summer. however, scottish power has announced that its customers will see their bills go up, following similar moves from edf and npower. concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of britain's naval fleet after it emerged that none of the seven attack submarines are at sea on active operations. the newer submarines, which carry cruise missiles, cost more than a billion pounds each. the mod insists some are "operationally ca pable". cocaine worth up to £50 million has washed up on beaches near great yarmouth in norfolk. holdalls containing over 300 kilos of the drug were found. detectives said it would be a "major blow to the organised criminals involved". a london—based plumbing firm has lost a legal battle over whether it should give freelance workers basic e

whitehaven, a coastal town in the constituency of copeland, and it was once the uk's third largest portlafield that is key to the local economy, and looming large on the political map. the conservatives are hoping to overturn decades of labour rule here and they are focusing onjeremy corbyn's past opposition to nuclear. but their candidate's faced criticism for barely mentioning the potential loss of services from the local hospital in her leaflets. i was born at that hospital, my four daughters were born at that hospital. we must keep consultant—led maternity. so what i've actually been doing is working with the minister to identify the problems with recruitment, because that's the real challenge. the labour candidate's message is the tories can't be trusted on the nhs. one of her biggest challenges is convincing the thousands of nuclear workers here that her party's leader is on their side. i'm behind the nuclear industry, no ifs, no buts. and it's labour party policy to support new nuclear build, to keep the lights on in this country. in the last general election here, labour beat th

john pienaar, bbc news, whitehaven.ke—on—trent central and copeland by—elections, visit our website. french police have arrested four people in montpellier on suspicion of planning an imminent terrorist attack. the three men and a 16—year—old girl were detained after they bought bomb—making chemicals. police said the teenager had pledged loyalty to so—called islamic state ina loyalty to so—called islamic state in a recent video. the explosives discovered were similar to those used in the paris attacks in november 20 15. the london firm, pimlico plumbers, has lost a legal battle over whether it should give freelance workers the same rights to pensions, holiday and sick pay, as permanent staff. the company went to the court of appeal after a plumber on a self—employed contract, gary smith, won a tribunal case against them. he wanted to work fewer days after an illness and argued he was entitled to the same rights as permanent staff. liverpool football clu b permanent staff. liverpool football club has banned journalists f

thank you forjoining us from the count in whitehaven, the coastal town of whitehaven, the biggest townng us. we will see if it proves right. the independent mayor saying that he thinks the tories mightjust have clinched it, but we don't know. who is smiling more than others? we haven't got a clue. hundreds of votes could be in it, the mayor said. i hate to say this, because my heart could sink at the thought, but there could be a recount if there is that vote, which would cheer up my panel no end! let's go to the end —— to the man we always depend onjohn curtice, professor of politics at the university of strathclyde. he is a few hundred yards away in our westminster newsroom. what are your thoughts about these two constituencies? let's talk about copeland. the truth is they have only been three occasions, three by—elections since 1945 in which the principal opposition party has lost a by—election to the government. the last one was in mid—june and morden in 1982. that was a special circumstance, a sitting labour mp, bruce douglas, defected to the ftp and insisted on resigning his seat

in a moment we'll get the latest from tom bateman at the copeland count in whitehaven.t's cross to chris mason in stoke. the challenge from labour perhaps comes from ukip? it does. good evening from stoke, where the verification of the ballot papers is already under. about a dozen ballot boxes have already been brought here to the camp centre at the start of the law night. on nights like this the law night. on nights like this the word imminent gets used frequently, but you have to define that by every hour. this is a tussle between labour, a party that has held his seat or is it very similar to it since 1930, and ukip, which hopes the breakthrough in town and city that is seen as the capital of brexit. a large majority of people decided to leave the eu, despite the official labour position being to stay in. this, like the by—election in the lake district, triggered by a labourmp in the lake district, triggered by a labour mp who packed it in because they found a betterjob elsewhere beyond parliament, that is seen by labour was my critics as a reflection on jeremy labou

it has always been labour but in whitehaven it has been labour since the 1930s. down year after yea r. labour majority would go down year after year. that is true butjeremy corbyn's opponents inside his own party say these are excuses and not reasons and his leadership came up on the doorstep here in whitehaven and the surrounding areas and that to some extent this was a verdict on his leadership of the labour party. from labour's point of view, what they will be delighted to see is the success in stoke, holding not that seat and seeing off ukip. there will be questions asked aboutjeremy corbyn's leadership but there will also be questions about paul nuttall‘s. i don't expect either man to throw in the towel but there will be questions from their parties. thank you. royal bank of scotland has reported an annual loss of £7 billion, its ninth consecutive year in the red. sean has the details. we were sitting here last year talking about £2 billion and that was a big figure, this year, 2016, £7 billion. a lot of that is because of one—off costs that the bank talks a

whitehaven, a coastal town in the constituency of copeland, and it was once the uk‘s third largest portnjeremy corbyn‘s past opposition to nuclear. but their candidate‘s faced criticism for barely mentioning the potential loss of services from the local hospital in her leaflets. i was born at that hospital, my four daughters were born at that hospital. we must keep consultant—led maternity. so what i‘ve actually been doing is working with the minister to identify the problems with recruitment, because that‘s the real challenge. the labour candidate‘s message is the tories can‘t be trusted on the nhs. one of her biggest challenges is convincing the thousands of nuclear workers here that her party‘s leader is on their side. i‘m behind the nuclear industry, no ifs, no buts. and it‘s labour party policy to support new nuclear build, to keep the lights on in this country. in the last general election here, labour beat the conservatives byjust 2,500 votes. smaller parties see an opportunity. labour has moved to the ideological left, the tories have moved to the ideological right. people in cu

elsewhere, there were wins for whitehaven, haydock and keighly cougars.ou feel for whoever was washing the kit! a proper yorkshire mud bath. lizzie yarnold has won bronze at the skeleton world championships in germany. before the weekend, 0lympic champion yarnold had been having an indifferent season since returning after a year out. she began the day's two heats in fourth place, and improved to take bronze. germany's jaqueline loelling won gold, with silver going to her compatriot tina hermann. this is what the whole two years has been about, coming back, and this major stepping stone of top three. i am feeling really strange at the moment, on the verge of crying, but it means more than i can ever explain. the gb men's four didn't fare quite as well, though — they crashed out in their second run. they ended up going head first into the wall and finishing on their side. they were all ok, but won't feature in the remaining heats after their sled failed to make it to the finish line by 20 feet. dramatic pictures, those! lucky escape. tonight in hull, we cou

he's in whitehaven for us now. thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today.sing 40-50 at, then labour could be losing 40—50 seats. what is your analysis of that today? these are problems, ultimately, that it is in labour's possibility to be able to fix. this was a disastrous result yesterday. let's not beat about the bush. to lose this seat when we have held it for so long and it is mid—term, and we have such an important issue here with the future of the west cumberland hospital, it is appalling to lose it. but this is a government which ought to be hugely vulnerable because of the direction in which they are taking the country in pursuing a hard brexit which would do incalculable damage the communities and to people's living standards. they ought to be there for the taking and it should be a serious wake—up call for the taking and it should be a serious wa ke—up call that for the taking and it should be a serious wake—up call that we have lost here today. and whilst i usually welcome the great campaign that was run in stoke and the defeat of ukip, we ought

elsewhere, wins for whitehaven, haydock and keighley cougars.ampionships in germany. before the weekend they 0lympic germany. before the weekend they olympic champion had an indifferent season since returning after a year out. she began the day's two heats in fourth place and moved up the table to take bronze in the end. this is what the whole two years has been about, coming back, and this major stepping stone of top three. i am feeling really strange at the moment, on the verge of crying, but it means more than i can ever explain. gb men's four didn't fare quite as well though — they crashed out in their second run. that's bradley hall, joel fearon, bruce tasker and gregory cackett bumping their way down the run at konigssee in germany — they were unable to correct it and ended up going head first into the wall and finishing on their side. they were all ok. that's all the sport for now. keep up—to—date with all the stories including the live sport, the six nations going on of course at the moment at the aviva stadium. half time between france

richard moss is in whitehaven. yes, labour has held this seat for more than 80 years.s. trudy harrison from the conservatives and fiona mills from ukip. one of the big issues is nuclear power. sellafield is in the constituency. there are plans for a nuclear power station. there seems to be some doubt. 20,000 jobs to connect —— connected to that. what would you do about that?” connect —— connected to that. what would you do about that? i would be working to make sure we secure the investment for the essential project. one of the other big issues is the hospital. plans to transfer services, eternity services, potentially, which may see pregnant woman having to travel 40 miles to carlisle under straitened circumstances. the prime minister said she had no problems with the plan. we can't expected to fight that, can we? the prime minister was misquoted. i was born at that hospital. i oppose the regime. i will be doing everything i can to support the services. isn't your party concentrating on stoke? we have a really good chance here. we have a really good chance here. we ha

the bbc‘s richard moss is in whitehaven. welcome. true facts about this constituency.the european union. this could be difficult for our next candidates. people made it clear that they wanted to leave but they will see you as the deniers of brexit. very few of them voted for a strong brexit. you don't know that. they explained their views. i was talking to them. it was a very small proportion. why do you think they would be better off staying in? the decision that had brexit means leaving europe is going to cause problems. the nuclear industry is something the green party care about. this is a difficult position. there is a lot of misinformation beings bread —— being spread. our problem is the new nuclear power plant will not bring as manyjobs as people think. it is going to bring jobs. that is better than nojobs. you see that but there are many other things we could invest in. the tidal lagoon is on the cards for west cumbria. there are better projects we could be backing rather than prostituting ourselves to the nuclear industry. you've denied labour this seat, you g

whitehaven has had a labour mp for more than 80 years but with a majority of 2500 the party is underpite repeated offers to get her here. we have been told that she is not available. she has been campaigning on certain issues. some doubt aboutjeremy corbyn's support for a new power station however she says she is in support ofa however she says she is in support of a new power station in sellafield and she is campaigning to protect hospital services as there are plans to move things like maternity services to carlisle, 40 miles away. i spoke to julian services to carlisle, 40 miles away. i spoke tojulian trouton last week. -- gillian. i have said no ifs and no buts, party policy is 100% behind new build and the nuclear industry, it is essential to keep the lights on and it is important forjobs in this area and jeremy has sat down with those from neighbouring constituencies and talked through the issues. jeremy understands it is essential as part of the low carbon energy mix to have nuclear to keep the lights on, there's no other way. and i'm convinced we haven't changed party policy

you can probably see, the storm clouds coming back in, after quite a nice day in whitehaven on the cumbrian several problems which labour has locally and nationally. locally, the special circumstances, the nuclear industry was very important, they say their policy has been represented by the conservatives and that may well be true but the overarching problem that labour has is the matter of trust, because jeremy that labour has is the matter of trust, becausejeremy corbyn uk came here and said that he was in favour of new nuclear capacity. but they didn't believe him. the second problem they had to be blunt about it is withjeremy corbyn himself because even left—wing labour mps have been on the doorsteps in copeland saying that, the issue of his leadership came up and prompted with some of the voters. the third problem, less predictable than at the beginning of this by—election campaign, that is thatjeremy corbyn has fought the antiestablishment campaign, he has tried to catch the anti—politics mood, and yet, some older voters i have spoken to, so labour as part of the establishment. a seat

about the downgrading of maternity services and other wards at the west cumberland hospital here at whitehavenve been trying to make that the big issue and they have been less visible here tonight. if we run through that scenario that has been suggested, that labour could hold stoke but possibly lose copeland, what would you imagine is the effect onjeremy corbyn tomorrow? they say that the best form of defence is attack and i am told that if labour loses one of these sets, tomorrow, supporters of jeremy corbyn are going to mount a pretty serious offensive against his internal party critics. i have been told they are preparing for what is described as a day of reckoning. they will ask questions, they will say, is it not strange that these by—elections were triggered by people who then gotjobs who were some of the strongest critics ofjeremy corbyn and those supporters are also going to say, how interesting it was that in the final week of that by—election campaign, tony blair sought to try to overturn the brexit result, as one source said to me, to challenge the carefully nuanced position of lab