25/11/2015 BBC News at One

George Osborne abandons his planned cuts to tax credits as he reveals

the government is plans for spending over the next five years. He says

the changes can be scrapped but he has confirmed ?12 billion in welfare

cuts. Among the winners is a boost

for housebuilding, with 400,000 new Protect our economic security

by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means

and bring down our debt. And to protect our National Security

Agency by defending And to protect our National Security

by defending our country's interests abroad and

keeping our citizens safe at home. With the Chancellor still

on his feet, we'll be bringing you The number of people dying last

winter hit a 15-year high. One Russian pilot survives

the downing of his fighter jet Relations between

the two countries remain tense. And a slow return to normality

for Brussels after fears of a terror attack, although

the city remains on high alert. George Osborne puts boosting

property ownership at the heart of the Spending Review,

but will it really give more Londoners the chance to get

a foot on the housing ladder? But the Chancellor's statement also

marks deep cuts to public spending, with police forces expected to be

among the losers. Good afternoon

and welcome to the BBC News at One. In a dramatic change of direction,

the Chancellor says the government is scrapping its planned changes to

the credit systems. He's setting out details

of government spending and cuts He has been detailing the

government's planned spending and cuts in the public spending bill.

The Chancellor is also setting out plans for almost ?7 billion-worth

of extra spending on housebuilding in England.

Our Political Correspondent Carole Walker has the story so far.

A businesslike Chancellor set off to deliver his statement. No smiles

this morning, George Osborne knows cutting ?20 billion from government

spending is hardly going to be good news. But he has already agreed

extra money for some priority programmes. He briefed the Cabinet

early this morning. Have you got the money you need?

The Defence Secretary has got an extra ?12 billion for military

equipment. And the Health Secretary is getting almost ?4 billion next

year for the NHS. Will working people be protected?

But there have been big battles over welfare. The Chancellor wants to cut

?12 billion. In the Commons, as the Chancellor waited to deliver his

statement, the Prime Minister Harold on one big announcement, another

attempt to tackle the housing crisis -- heralded. The biggest

contribution is by awarding more houses which we will be doing during

this Parliament and by maintaining a strong, secure and stable economy

with low interest rates so people can afford to take out a mortgage.

The Chancellor of the X to cover. George Osborne said the Conservative

government is delivering on its commitment to protect economic and

national-security. He said his plan to get a budget in surplus by the

end of the Parliament is on track. We have promised to move Britain

from being a high welfare, low-wage economy to a global welfare, higher

wage economy. Today, I can say that the ?12 billion of welfare savings

we committed to at the election will be delivered in full. And delivered

in a way that helps families as we make the transition to our national

living wage. The Chancellor's plan to save ?4 billion from tax credits

forwarding families was defeated in the Lords. Today, he announced an

improvement in the nation's finances allowed him to abandon these plans

altogether. I have listened to the concerns, I hear and I understand

them. And because I have been able to announce today an improvement in

the public finances, the simplest thing is not to faze these changes

in but to avoid them all together. Tax credits are being phased out

anyway as we introduce Universal Credit. And what that means is that

the tax credit taper rate and threshold remain unchanged. The

Chancellor says this is about focusing on the government's

priorities, but that does mean a full cutbacks elsewhere and it could

take days, at even weeks, before the effect of his decisions becomes

clear. Labour want him to back down on many

other planned cuts including those to police numbers. The transfer is

still on his feet as he continues to set out his plans for the next four

years -- the Chancellor. In a moment, we'll get the latest

from Westminster with our Assistant But first, our Economics

Correspondent, Andy Verity, is here. What picture did George Osborne

give? He was bullish about it. One number we were looking about is what

is going to happen to the deficit? The deficit, the amount by which the

government exceeds its income. The number he gave was ?73.5 billion for

borrowing for next year. That has increased slightly from the target

of 69.5 William pounds in the summer budget but not by a huge amount. --

69.5 billion pounds. The other number is, what is the state of the

public finances is in 4.5 years? He did forecast a surplus of 10 billion

in July and today we have another surplus, ?10.1 billion. Part of the

reason he is able to do that in defiance of expectations the surplus

would not be as much is we have slightly better economic growth

predicted for next year and the year after. In 2015 and 2016, we have

2.4%. In 2017, that goes up to 2.5%. Those projections will be a bit

controversial because some Independent economists look at

global uncertainty and they wonder if we might slow down. A big

number, the centrepiece was tax credits. We have to learn where that

will come from now. Thank you. Our Assistant Political Editor,

Norman Smith, is in Westminster. Can you answer that question? A huge

U-turn on tax credits, how will he pay for it? The answer at the moment

is we do not really know. What we do know is so battered and shattered it

seems is the Chancellor and the government by the backlash over

planned cuts to tax credits, there is no point trying to tweak it a bit

and put a little bit more money away of people receiving tax credit and

just phase it in. He decided, no, we have two abandon the whole thing. So

he has dropped the plan outlined in the budget to impose cuts on tax

credits, saying, in time, tax credits will be phased out once we

move to the Universal Credit. With that comes considerable political

embarrassment for George Osborne. He will have to come back to the

Commons in a month and explain why he has broken his own rules on

welfare spending because he imposed a welfare cap which he will now

reach by not going ahead with those cuts to tax credits. -- reach. He's

partly saved by the fact Labour missed before the statement they

would not attack George Osborne if he forgot about his plans for tax

credits. It seems we are slightly in an abracadabra moment. How has he

done this? He says he will have a bigger surplus, debt will fall

faster than reviews we planned, the economy keeps growing, cuts to

government departments are less than expected. The answer is we are going

to have to go through that red book. Somewhere in it will be the

detail of how the Chancellor has paid for the ?4.5 billion savings he

will have to make to offset abandoning cuts to tax credits.

Thank you. Norman Smith. And the Chancellor is still on his

feet, outlining the Spending Review. We'll have more on that

at the end of the programme. Almost 44,000 more people died

last winter in England and Wales New figures from the Office

for National Statistics show that more than three quarters

of those died were 75 or over. It's the highest number

of so-called "excess winter deaths" Our Health Correspondent,

Dominic Hughes, reports. Last winter was an exceptionally

tough one for the NHS right across the UK. In particular, I wonder

departments and Ambulance Services were under severe pressure. Now we

know why. It big increase in the number of frail and elderly patients

falling seriously ill and dying. The latest figures from the Office for

National Statistics is show a big increase in deaths over winter

compared to the average number of deaths the rest of the year, there

were nearly 44,000 excess winter death is imminent and Wales, the

highest number since 1999. Most fertility is occurred in those over

75, with respiratory diseases are common underlying cause. -- most

deaths. There were more than double also in Scotland. One cause of harm

in winter is the flu and you have to get the flu vaccine. And the second

is cold weather. There are a number of practical steps we can all take

to avoid harm from the cold. Again, people who are older and who have

heart disease or lung disease, they vulnerable to the impacts of cold

weather. For hospitals preparing for this winter, these figures are

worrying. I am concerned from the point of view of we have got a lot

of plans in place and contingency planning which we do all year. But

my biggest concern is our ability to have enough nursing staff to be able

to open up additional capacity. Pensioners groups have been

protesting in Westminster today. Releasing balloons to remember those

who died last winter from cold related illnesses. You are going to

feel a little scratch. Luke was probably the biggest winter killer

and public health experts said this year's kludge up should be more

effective. And each tab will hope they are right if they are to avoid

similar pressures to those seen last winter -- NHS staff.

Relations between Russia and Turkey remain tense

after yesterday's shooting down of a Russian fighter jet, which Turkey

One pilot was killed by gunfire as he parachuted from his plane -

the other was rescued by the Syrian army.

The Russian Foreign Minister said today his country did not intend to

wage a war with Turkey, but would "seriously reconsider" relations.

It sparked a diplomatic crisis and fears of retaliation. A Russian

plane plunging into flames from a Turkish strike. The first time a

Nato member has downed a Russian jet in over 50 years. Moscow says one

pilot who rejected was killed by Syrian rebels. The other rescued and

now in Russia's Syrian -- Syrian air base of Latakia. Turkey released a

map suggesting the plane crossed the Southern tip of its order, mocked in

blue, 417 seconds after repeated warnings. Russia hit back with a

image saying that no point did the Russian plane, in red, cross the

purple border while one of the Turkish planes mocked included. In

Moscow, the anger is boiling. Powell Putin? He has warned of grave

consequences and pressure for equal -- economic sanctions. -- President.

For now, tough talk. After the tragic events of yesterday, it has

become necessary to warn our citizens about the danger of

travelling to Turkey. What happened calls for an in-depth analysis, we

are not alone in seeing that, I assure you, the whole world knows

it. The strike was perhaps a flexing muscles by Turkey to support the

Syrian Turkoman. Ethnic Turks fighting the President Assad regime

who have been pounded by strikes. The Turkish President knows he has

Nato behind him defending its airspace but he is under pressure to

pull back and he sounded a conservatory note today. No one

should expect us to be silent and non-reactive to the constant

violation of our border security but we definitely do not want to

escalate this incident. Turkey has always been on the side of peace,

dialogue and diplomacy, not tension, crisis and animosity. In Moscow, the

Turkish embassy was pelted with eggs, with some calling for

retaliation. Murderous, they chanted. This is the Embassy of

murderers, in my opinion. I think that nothing good can come of this

escalation of tensions but it is now obvious we should be getting ready

for dark times. Not everything is clear but I do think there should be

some retaliation. Much of what is said by Ankara and Moscow will be

for domestic consumption. Both presidents cultivating their strong

man image. But there is Russia to pull back and with recent signs of a

grand coalition forming against Islamic State, perhaps the desire to

unite against a common enemy will cool head this time. -- heads.

Schools and about half of Metro stations

in Brussels have reopened this morning, four days after they were

closed over fears of an imminent attack similar to that in Paris.

The city is still on the highest level of alert, with armed police

Our Europe correspondent, Chris Morris, is in Brussels.

After four days of lockdown and too many rumours to mention the

government said the city had to get back to business. As the hunt for

another jihadist sale continues, nervous parents and nervous

commuters have taken steps to get things moving again.

At six in the morning, the first Metro train since last Friday.

The transport network coming back to life.

Brussels is still on high alert, the threat of attacks serious

And there were mixed emotions among people arriving

It feels like things are beginning to get back to normal?

I don't think so, because we are still scared.

Today is good, there are a lot of people in the streets.

Parents dropping off kids amidst additional security.

Provided by hundreds of armed police.

There were handshakes, there was reassurance.

But there was also a tinge of anxiety.

I am worried, she says, but you've just got to get on with things.

And on one of Brussels' main thoroughfares, sirens

So plenty of security still, but the feel of a city that is

Naturally enough though, people are still extremely concerned

about the fact that nearly two weeks now after the attacks

in Paris, the main surviving suspect had yet to be caught.

We have known about this man, Salah Abdeslam, since shortly

He was there, but he is still on the run.

And now the Belgian authorities have named a

second suspect, Mohamed Abrini, seen here as a petrol station en route to

He is described as armed and dangerous.

We have to find as soon as possible these terrorists,

these people who are putting fear in the mind of a whole population.

And as working life resumes here, people are uncomfortably aware that

there will be others still seeking to attack at random.

The European Parliament is meeting in Strasbourg to discuss the Paris

attacks. Our correspondent is there. Members of the European Parliament

have been debating the EU response to the Paris attacks. Much of the

focus has been on border control. The focus has been on border

control. There of the Schengen Agreement zone, an area where you

can move freely between countries with no border checks. But there are

now questions over how sustainable that is, not just because of the

Paris attacks but also the ongoing migrant crisis. Some countries have

already imposed temporary border controls, driving from Brussels to

Strasbourg yesterday they were long queues at the French border as the

authorities checked on cars. This morning the president of the

European Commission said that the Schengen idea was, he urged people

to breathe new life into it. The reason this matters is because the

idea of free movement is absolutely fundamental to the European Union.

Those who want to preserve it say the focus must be on strengthening

external borders but there are questions over whether that will be

enough. And even senior EU leaders say now that the idea is being

tested like never before. George Osborne abandons his planned

cuts to tax credits - but confirms Housebuilding

in England gets a boost of almost ?7 It was the world's fastest aircraft

- now 75 years after the Mosquito first took to the skies a new

prototype is about to be unveiled. Having been close to elimination,

Arsenal keep their Champions League A white police officer in Chicago

has been charged with the murder of Officials released a video taken

by a police car's dashboard camera showing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald

walking away In the hours after the footage was

released, several hundred protesters Officer Jason Van Dyke is

the first on-duty Chicago officer A Monday evening in October 2014,

and Chicago police officers are called to attend reports that

a youth armed with Dash cam footage shows the time,

just before ten o'clock. 17-year-old Laquan McDonald can be

seen running On the left of the picture,

officer Jason Van Dyke It is approximately six seconds

between him leaving the car In scenes too graphic to show he

continues to shoot Chicago police investigators later

recovered 16 fired cartridge cases from the scene and the Illinois

State police determined that all those cartridge cases had been fired

from officer Van Dyke's weapon. Jason Van Dyke appeared

in court yesterday charged with And the dash cam footage was

released under orders I understand that people will be

upset and will want to protest But I would like to echo the

comments of the McDonald family. They have asked for calm and

for those who choose to speak out to So far it appears the appeals

for calm have been listened to. With a few hundred protesters

on the streets of Chicago last Tensions are running high across

the United States after a series of high-profile shootings by the

police at African-American youths. Laquan McDonald had been carrying

a 3-inch knife when he was shot. Officer Van Dyke's lawyer says

the dash cam footage does not tell I believe my client's conduct

has been described as hideous. I would state that those

comments are irresponsible. A jury will now have to decide

whether Laquan McDonald's actions that night should have led to

his violent death. Britain's Davis Cup team say they

are satisfied with security arrangements ahead of

the final against Belgium in Ghent. The town is only 35 miles

from the capital Brussels, which Tennis fans have been warned

that increased security means entry to the venue will take

longer than usual. Our Sports Correspondent Sally

Nugent has been talking to British Number One Andy Murray ahead

of the first match on Friday. There were a lot

of concerns over the weekend with the news coming from Brussels,

which affected our travel plans a It didn't make too much difference

because the match court wasn't available

anyway. How much did you think over the

weekend about how you would get here We listened to all

of the right people. As Leon said, everyone was

shocked about what was going on in But once the security guys were here

in Ghent, around the arena, they reassured us everything was

fine and we were good to go. If you tuned in in previous

matches, you can see the bench lined up behind the court, the umpire's

chair, and we have got a great bunch of players, fantastic backroom staff

who work their socks off for the team and the players

appreciate everyone's role. We haven't been in a final

for over 30 years. Who knows

if we will get there again? It is a great opportunity

for the fans to come and watch. We will need as much support as we

can get. Sally Nugent there - talking to Andy

Murray. More on the top story now and

Chancellor George Osborne says he's scrapping propose changes to the tax

credit system. In a moment we will have the latest from Westminster.

Our economics correspondent Andy Verity is here.

What else have we heard? Something of the cuts to the departments which

is what everyone was waiting for. George Osborne wanted to make cuts

to the welfare budget but here is what is happening to some of those

unprotected departments. Environment down 15%. 37% cut in the current

budget, the day-to-day budget of the transport Department but more money

per new roads. A block grant for Wales of ?15 billion, Northern

Ireland, ?11 billion, but a 20% cut to the budget for the Department of

culture, media and sport. Good news for pensioners, the basic state

pension is going to rise by ?3 35 a week. That is the biggest real term

rise we've seen in a long time. And not looking very austere in that

regard. The big question, how is it going to pay for not doing that tax

credit cut? Our assistant political editor

Norman Smith is in Westminster. You have been getting some reaction

to the statement? A good few of us walking around scratching our heads

and thinking how did he do that, how did he land to pay for this tax

credit move, abandoning the proposed cuts to tax credits? Let us try to

find out from a couple of MPs, Conservative member Chris Phipps and

Chuka Umunna, former business secretary. On the plus side, he has

done what you wanted him to do and abandoned the cuts to tax credits.

He has and it was a catastrophic midge judgment of his to come

forward with those unforgivable proposals. -- misjudgement. This is

a smoke and mirrors Autumn Statement. The problem is he is

making the utterly false economy, cutting off his nose to spite his

face, in cutting growth inducing measures. The Department for growth,

the business department, their budget cut by 17%. Every pound that

you put in investing in young people and skills, research and innovation,

produces future receipts for the Exchequer in the longer run. We have

seen him attacking the Department and other growth inducing measures

as well. Huge cheers on your benches Chris, when George Osborne announced

he would abandon cuts to tax credits. But we simply do not know

how he will pay for it, it is magic money? It is not true, this is

fantastic news for working families. The Chancellor has listened and the

the economy is doing better than expected and because of that the

Chancellor can afford to reverse these tax credit proposals. It is

fantastic news, we have record employment, growth rates and wages

of 3%, the biggest growth in the past five years of every G-7

country. And that is why, he can spend ?10 billion more on the NHS,

starting with ?6 billion extra next year to make sure the NHS has the

money it needs. The Chancellor said he would still make welfare savings

of ?12 billion so some benefit claimants will have to pay for this

U-turn on tax credits? He already announced reduction on benefit caps

outside London, that is absolutely right. Some changes to housing

benefit for social tenants but as the economy does well and more

people come off welfare and into work, as they are doing in the

hundreds of thousands, of course welfare spending will come down.

Chuka Umunna, briefly, your party has been clear that if he abandoned

tax credits you would not attack him? We have the lowest productivity

in the G-7 aside from Japan. We still do not know what he's going to

do policing, we are losing 5000 police officers in London which the

Met Police chief would compromise the counterterrorism effort. And our

trade deficit is the biggest on record. Thank you very much gentle

man. The fact is we will have to get our heads down and go through all

the numbers. You do not get the full story until you have gone through

the detail. Thank you. And you can keep

up-to-date with the Autumn Statement on the BBC News website. There is a

special page on the spending review with continuous updates from our

correspondence and the latest analysis.

We have an East -West Brit today. The best of the sunshine across the

East, further west we have this cloud. -- split. This was the

beautiful scene taken earlier this morning close to Halifax in the

Pennines. As we go through the rest of the Day today, across western

areas where is the risk of a few showers, some in the West of

Scotland or eastern parts of Northern Ireland. The wind is

bringing an unfortunate line of showers for some stretching down

into the south and West Midlands and on towards Hampshire. Underneath

this some areas could get shower after Sharon this afternoon. Mostly

quite light. In the east is the best of the sunshine. Overnight tonight

clear skies initially across Scotland and eastern parts of

England, temperatures falling away. And some frost possible in the

countryside. In Northern Ireland and the West of Scotland turning murky

and a damp start to the day with outbreaks of rain. The rain tends

heavier as we go through Thursday especially across the West of

Scotland. Further east it is a bright start with sunshine and

staying largely dry and five through the day. Temperatures pushing

generally into double figures but around the Murray first some wind

allowing temperatures to peak at around 15 degrees. So Friday, we end

the week with an area of low pressure pushing in a weather front

across the UK. This bringing some particularly heavy rain into the

western side of Scotland and also turning wet at times for Northern

Ireland, Wales and the West of England. Mild air in place though

but the rain associated with a cold front that will swing east through

Friday night. It will be cold and there will even be is no across

northern parts of Scotland. The weekend, and unsettled picture, low

pressure in charge bringing strong wind at times. Some wet weather on

Saturday in particular, and brighter spells, the best in eastern parts on

Sunday. On Saturday, outbreaks of rain sweeping across the country,

and the strong wind with gales or even severe gales buffeting the

south-west of the UK. The wind coming in from the South West which

should boost temperatures a little but feeling cold and the wind. And

across the mountains of Scotland cold enough for some snow. So I'm

unsettled looking weekend ahead. Now a reminder

of our top story this lunchtime. George Osborne abandons his planned

cuts to tax credits but confirms ?12 billion in overall welfare cuts.

That's all from us, now on BBC One it's time