Browse content similar to 23/02/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Winds of up to 100 miles an hour hit the UK, as Storm Doris blows in. | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
There's been widespread damage on the roads and the railways, | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
Thousands of homes are without power. | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
I can tell you, as you can see the foam hitting me from the | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
sea, that it definitely has materialised. | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
The gusts here are so powerful, I can't even face in the | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
direction that the wind is coming from. | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
We'll be speaking to our correspondents in some of the areas | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
worst affected in Scotland and in the north-west of England. | :00:35. | :00:36. | |
Net migration falls for the first time in 2 years, although it remains | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
Iraqi forces seize Mosul airport from Islamic State - | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
Prisons are explicitly to become places of rehabilitation | :00:50. | :01:04. | |
as well as punishment, under new government plans. | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
A new sound for smoke alarms - safety experts say a voice, | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
rather than a beep, is much more likely to wake children up. | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
And the speeding driver who clocked up 62 points on his licence who's | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
And coming up in sport on BBC News, Wayne Rooney's agent Paul Stretford | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
is in China, to see if he can negotiate a big-money move | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
for the Manchester United and England captain. | :01:30. | :01:49. | |
Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at 1pm. | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
Storm Doris has hit the UK, with gusts of wind of up | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
Planes have been grounded, roads closed, and rail travel disrupted. | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
In Northern Ireland, thousands of homes are without power. | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
And in Scotland, heavy snow and high winds led to the closure | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
The storm is predicted to continue for much of the day. | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
And in the last few minutes we've had reports that a woman has been | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
killed in Wolverhampton city centre in a weather related incident. | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
Let's get the latest from our correspondent, Daniel Boettcher. | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
Throughout the morning winds have been picking up as Storm Doris swept | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
across the country. This is the seafront at Blackpool, there are | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
severe weather warnings for North England, the Midlands and North | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
Wales. Forecasters described the storm is weather bomb, an area of | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
intense low-pressure, and this is some of the damage it has already | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
caused. A car crushed by a fallen tree in west London, and more | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
damage, this time in County Fermanagh. Trees have also brought | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
down power lines, 3500 homes in Northern Ireland have been Lex left | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
without electricity. These images from the International Space Station | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
's showbiz storm building up earlier today. Storm Doris is an example of | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
what I weather bomb, an area of low pressure that sports severe gales | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
across parts of the UK. We've had wind gusts over 90 miles an hour and | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
disruption to power supplies and also disruption to transport. Those | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
kind of strength winds can easily winds trees down. Problem is that | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
air travel as well. This is Leeds Bradford Airport and he throws that | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
its schedule has been reduced by 10% because of the weather, with some | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
delays and cancellations. And on the rails the storm has also cause some | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
disruption. 50 mile an hour speed limits have been imposed on several | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
lines, including the West Coast Main line and earlier departures from | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
Euston station were suspended but have now started running again. The | :03:52. | :03:58. | |
centre of the storm is due to track towards the North Sea, but the | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
strong winds are expected to last throughout the afternoon. And in | :04:02. | :04:09. | |
Scotland crews have been out clearing roads, with poor driving | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
conditions caused by a combination of snow, sleet and high winds. The | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
biggest problems have been on the higher routes mainly in central and | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
southern areas, and in places up to 30 centimetres of snow is expected | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
during the day. Daniel Birch, BBC News. | :04:25. | :04:26. | |
In a moment, we'll be talking to Lorna Gordon who's near Dunblane, | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
but first let's cross to Alison Freeman who's | :04:33. | :04:34. | |
We saw you a little earlier almost unable to stand up, it doesn't look | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
much better now. It isn't, and actually we just watched this storm | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
unfold throughout the morning as the wind has become more and more | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
powerful. It is so strong at the moment I can't look into it and this | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
phone that's being blown from the sea is a bit more like being in a | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
blizzard. If you look behind us, the thermometer for how strong the wind | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
has been, those are meant to bend in front of Blackpool Trower, they have | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
become parallel with the ground up points today. If you look out to | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
sea, those waves really are far back now, the tide has gone out but that | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
foam keeps flowing in against us. These routes really are strong and | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
powerful. They are pushing us around, making us feel battered, | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
very much like the coastline. We know they are expected to stay like | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
this until about six o'clock this evening. Back to you. Lawn near | :05:30. | :05:37. | |
Dunblane, the area has been hit by a very icy | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
some roads and schools closed here in Scotland. Storm Doris dumping | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
snow across large swathes of the country. The timing couldn't have | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
been worse. Lots of it here as many people are going to work. This road | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
is running clearly but the A9 has had problems and the M80 further | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
south, appalling conditions, one of the main road in Scotland than | :06:04. | :06:05. | |
ground to a halt completely earlier today. The road had been treated but | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
it was the sheer weight of traffic on heavy snow and some cars and | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
lorries having problems with traction. The road is now clear. | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
There's been power cuts, some schools closed on this weather | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
warnings in place until 6pm this morning. Lorna Gordon there, thanks. | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
Ministers are calling it the biggest reform of prisons in England | :06:27. | :06:28. | |
For the first time, the Government will state in black and white that | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
a key purpose of prison is to reform offenders, as well | :06:36. | :06:37. | |
At the heart of the changes will be dealing with drugs | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
and violence in prisons, and also cutting re-offending rates. | :06:42. | :06:43. | |
Here's our Home Affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford. | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
The last year has been one of the worst for prisons since the 1990s. | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
As the staff cuts of five years ago started to bite and drones and drugs | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
were flown in violent sword. Some jails have been close to crisis | :07:04. | :07:13. | |
point. But there are prisons, like HMP Onley in Warwickshire that | :07:14. | :07:15. | |
despite their own problems of drugs and violence still managed to | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
prepare inmates for life on the outside. Abdi is coming to the end | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
of a two-year sentence for violence and is training for a job as a brick | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
technician at Halfords. He told me his experience of jail has been | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
mixed. When I was Pentonville before I came here we were locked up 23 | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
hours a day. Literally treated like animals. We had to ask for toilet | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
paper, ask for basic common decency is, so coming here, now, it looks | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
like a completely different prison. At the heart of the government's new | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
proposals is the division to define for the first time in law what the | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
purpose of prison is and that is not only to punish but also to | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
rehabilitate, to prevent criminals offending again. And as well as | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
today's prisons and court spill the Justice Secretary Liz Truss is | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
reversing many of the cuts made by one of her Tory predecessors, Chris | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
Grayling. Those cuts in the Chris Grayling Iraq were a mistake, won't | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
they? I think it was always right to look at how we can be more | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
efficient. But what I'm saying now is we do need the right number of | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
prison officers, to be able to turn those lives around. In Onley | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
prison's training cafe, a reminder of why rehabilitation is important. | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
A drug dealer serving seven years who'd been to prison before. It | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
hadn't stopped him reoffending. Once I got released, I tried to search | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
for a job but I wasn't qualified for anything, I had no know-how, | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
therefore I got back into old ways and back in jail. Today's bill also | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
includes measures to tackle mobile phones in prison. New laws to help | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
the prison service detect and intercept devices often used to deal | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
drugs and organised crime from behind bars. Labour said the | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
proposals were an inadequate response to a prisons crisis that | :09:11. | :09:12. | |
developed on the government's watch. Let's talk to Daniel who's outside | :09:13. | :09:14. | |
Pentonville prison in north London. Daniel, how big a change is being | :09:15. | :09:28. | |
proposed here? It certainly an end entered a period when Chris Grayling | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
was in charge of prison and that focuses on cutting costs almost all | :09:34. | :09:34. | |
costs. I think that is over now and there | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
is a realisation in the government that actually if you reduce costs | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
too far then prisons to become less safe places and places that are more | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
difficult to control. This was a process that was started by Michael | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
Gove last year and has at continued with the new recruitment of prison | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
officers, with a different approach to prisons and now this prisons bill | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
which says that rehabilitation is at the core of what they do. But this | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
is, of course, not an easy thing to do. What happened over the last | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
decade or so is drugs and mobile phones have become such a central | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
part of life in prisons, to try and squeeze that out will be very | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
difficult. Violence has come alongside the drugs, which causes | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
violence and alongside the mobile phones which provides opportunities | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
for blackmail and so on and so forth. So it is a massive task. | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
There is still a problem that many people have been held in old and | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
squalid prisons and rehabilitating under those conditions won't be | :10:33. | :10:34. | |
easy. Daniel, thank you. Net migration to the UK has fallen | :10:35. | :10:36. | |
to its lowest level in two years. Figures from the Office | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
for National Statistics show that the difference | :10:40. | :10:41. | |
between the number of people arriving and leaving the UK dipped | :10:42. | :10:43. | |
below 300,000 in the year Figures also show that a record | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
number of EU nationals were granted Our Home affairs correspondent, | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
Danny Shaw, is with me. Danny, the net migration figures | :10:52. | :11:03. | |
down for the first time in two years. The government will be | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
pleased with that? Yes, I think this is good news for the government. | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
Politically very significant. In statistical terms, perhaps not quite | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
there. What these figures show is net migration, the difference | :11:17. | :11:18. | |
between the number of people coming to live in Britain for 12 months and | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
people emigrating from the UK. They showed in the 12 months to September | :11:23. | :11:30. | |
the figure was 270 3000. That is the lowest for two years, and it | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
represents a fall of 49,000 on the year before, though there is some | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
caution with that, in terms of the statistical significance. So it is | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
edging closer to the government's target of under 100000 May, it might | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
just be a sign that some people don't want to live in the UK after | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
the EU referendum. But it's very, very early days to draw firm | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
conclusions about that. Briefly, how do you interpret the residents | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
figures? These figures about the number of people from the EU and | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
other European countries who have been issued with cards proving that | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
they have the right to stay in the UK. They have that right after five | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
years. They don't have to get those cards, but they are clearly worried, | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
some of them, about their status after Brexit and they are applying | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
for the cards and been granted them in very big numbers. 65,000 last | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
year, that's a massive increase, trebled the number of the previous | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
year and also figures on citizenship are up significantly. Citizenship | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
for EU nationals being allowed to stay in the UK permanently. Many | :12:36. | :12:37. | |
thanks. The murderer of the children's | :12:38. | :12:38. | |
author Helen Bailey has been sentenced to life in prison, | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
after being convicted of her murder. The judge said that Ian Stewart | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
would have to spend at least 34 years behind bars, | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
saying it was "difficult to imagine Stewart drugged and suffocated | :12:51. | :12:52. | |
Helen Bailey before throwing her body in a cesspit, | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
hidden under the garage It's taken four years | :12:56. | :12:57. | |
to get through Parliament, but today the go-ahead will finally | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
be given for work to begin on the first phase of the high | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
speed rail link between Critics say the project | :13:07. | :13:08. | |
is a waste of money, But supporters say it will boost | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
the economy and the number of people Phase One is due to open | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
in 2026, at a cost of more More of us are using | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
the railways than ever before. It means busier stations and busier | :13:23. | :13:32. | |
trains, and so the Government I'm taking a journey on the first | :13:33. | :13:34. | |
stage of the route from London to Birmingham, to see | :13:35. | :13:42. | |
what impact it could have. The biggest challenge | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
is tackling overcrowding. Our current tracks and stations | :13:49. | :13:50. | |
can't handle many more passengers, but as well as running more | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
frequently, the trains will be faster, too, | :13:54. | :13:56. | |
and that's good news for passengers. Sometimes you don't get enough | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
carriages, which can be a problem, and then it's really crowded | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
on the trains as a lot I regard being on the train at work | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
time, so don't get to sit down and then you'll feel really | :14:10. | :14:17. | |
frustrated by that last hour. But it's not just commuters who | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
stand to gain from the new railway. We are going to average about 10,000 | :14:21. | :14:23. | |
jobs over the course of the first phase of construction, | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
peaking at 25,000 jobs a month, and that's just | :14:27. | :14:28. | |
during the construction phase. When we go into operation again | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
we'll have tens of thousands of jobs that are maintaining | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
and running the railway. But there could be an even greater | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
economic benefit too. With 50 minutes into the journey, | :14:40. | :14:41. | |
but if this was an HS2 trains we'd already be in Birmingham, | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
and that means spending less time travelling and more time working, | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
and one estimate suggests that could add about ?15 | :14:52. | :14:53. | |
billion to the economy. The current price tag is close | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
to ?60 billion, but many say it 60 ancient woodlands | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
would have to be bulldozed, 350 homes will have to be demolished | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
and thousands of businesses will be affected, like this | :15:11. | :15:18. | |
farm in Buckinghamshire. The land will be split | :15:19. | :15:20. | |
in two when work begins. It's going to completely | :15:21. | :15:22. | |
alter the way I farm. I'll lose half the grazing | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
that my cows can go out to. I'm not seriously convinced | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
that the HS2 is a valid necessity The first section to the West | :15:31. | :15:32. | |
Midlands is due to open by 2026. An extension to Leeds | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
and Manchester will open by 2032. HS2 should make journeys faster | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
and more comfortable. We're just on the approach | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
into our final destination for today's journey, | :15:50. | :15:52. | |
which is Birmingham New Street. But keeping the project | :15:53. | :15:54. | |
on time and on track Ben Thompson, BBC | :15:55. | :15:56. | |
News in Birmingham. The Iraqi army has captured Mosul | :15:57. | :16:12. | |
airport from so-called Islamic state. The battle for the western | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
half of the city began earlier this month and the capture of the airport | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
would be seen as a strategic victory. Quentin Somerville is the | :16:23. | :16:25. | |
only Western correspondent travelling with Iraqi government | :16:26. | :16:26. | |
forces and sent this report. You can hear gunfire and one of the | :16:27. | :16:38. | |
last remaining villages between Iraqi forces and Mosul airport. | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
These are moving forward from multiple directions. Up above, the | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
coalition aircraft have been hammering this area all right long | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
in preparation for this attack. At the same time, the Iraqi government | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
have been dropping leaflets, warning people to stay in their homes. When | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
we were here yesterday, we were able to see areas to the north others | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
with the Islamic State flags are flying. These guys are trying to | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
change that because the attack on Mosul airport is underway. The Iraqi | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
forces have made it to the perimeter of Mosul's airport. Just over there, | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
you can see the airport stretching out about four kilometres wide | :17:24. | :17:32. | |
apparently. The sugar factory to the left of the picture, yesterday, the | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
IS flag was hanging from there. It is no longer hanging there now. All | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
around this area there have been heavy air strikes, we can see | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
massive craters. The village was effectively taken last night. The | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
men have been moving slowly forward through the village. If you have a | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
little look, you can see it there. We are now on the airport of Mosul | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
airport. That is the Iraqi flag, those Federal police units. In the | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
distance, you can see burning and smoke from some of the terminal | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
buildings. In the last few minutes, the so-called Islamic state have | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
been more touring this position, just a little bit further ahead, in | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
fact. Iraqi security forces were going down towards the airport when | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
one of them hit a roadside bomb. Palu tenant was killed, and we | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
believe there were other casualties. You might be able to hear | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
helicopters still ahead. They will press on with the attack on the | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
airport to try to make it to the terminal buildings. That is the | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
target Iraqi forces are now inside Mosul airport. | :18:44. | :18:45. | |
Quentin Somerville reporting there from outside Mosul. | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
Storm Doris has brought widespread disruption | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
across large swathes of the UK, with wind gusts of up | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
A woman has died in a weather-related incident. | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
I can tell you, as you see the foam hitting me from the sea that it | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
The gusts here are so powerful, I can't even face in the direction | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao AND Britain's Amir Khan have | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
announced on social media that they ARE now in talks | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
We're all told to fit fire alarms in our homes, | :19:22. | :19:33. | |
but new research suggests that when they go off like this... | :19:34. | :19:41. | |
Most children aren't woken up by the noise. | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
The study was carried out after a fire in Derby in 2013, | :19:45. | :19:47. | |
It had been deliberately started by the parents, | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
but investigators think the children died because they didn't hear | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
So now they're developing new alarms, specially | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
designed to wake children, as our Medical correspondent | :20:01. | :20:02. | |
Smoke alarms save lives, but last year 300 people died | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
in fires in England alone, too often where there was no | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
Derbyshire Fire Service use this old shipping container | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
Let's see how quickly a blaze would spread in a bedroom. | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
The smoke alarm in this demonstration activated | :20:26. | :20:27. | |
within seconds of the fire starting, giving minutes to escape. | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
But research by Derbyshire Fire and Dundee University found children | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
are often not roused by the sound of a standard smoke detector. | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
Melanie Wilkins from Mansfield has tested her smoke alarm many times | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
at night and only once has any of her four boys woken up. | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
ALARM: Wake up, the house is on fire. | :20:53. | :20:54. | |
Now, she's trying something different, and alarm | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
ALARM: Wake up, the house is on fire. | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
It's like a voice of a parent that they're | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
used to listening to day in, day out. | :21:10. | :21:11. | |
Maybe subconsciously, that's what they're hearing | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
The new alarm was designed with the help of her uncle | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
Prompted by a notorious case in Derby when these six children | :21:21. | :21:30. | |
died in a house fire, deliberately set by their | :21:31. | :21:33. | |
Dave Kos says more often than not, smoke alarms simply | :21:34. | :21:41. | |
Unfortunately that was the first one that brought it to my attention, | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
but since that day I can probably recount at least half a dozen fires | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
where children failed to respond from sleep and have then become | :21:51. | :21:53. | |
trapped the wrong side of a fire and have unfortunately died. | :21:54. | :21:56. | |
Derbyshire Fire Service and Dundee University want | :21:57. | :21:58. | |
500 families to test the prototype alarm. | :21:59. | :22:00. | |
Researchers predict alarms with the human voice | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
ALARM: Wake up, the house is on fire. | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
Quite often we hear alarms going off, we don't quite know | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
whether they are just a warning or if it's for real. | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
So putting the human voice into that, I think is going to be | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
one of the key important additional things that we'll bring | :22:21. | :22:22. | |
Fire investigators stress that standard smoke alarms | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
But parents need to know, it could be up to them | :22:29. | :22:40. | |
to wake their children in the event of a fire. | :22:41. | :22:42. | |
British Gas saw its profits fall by 11% to ?553 million. | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
But the profits of its parent company, Centrica, | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
prices in the face of higher energy costs and a weaker pound. | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
Here's our Industry correspondent John Moylan. | :22:58. | :23:07. | |
At British Gas we've got some great news for our customers... There has | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
been good news from British Gas recently, they are freezing its | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
standard tariffs until August, it has even launched a loyalty scheme. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
It hopes that will stop customers leaving, one of the reasons why its | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
profits have been hit. In 2016, British Gas made ?553 million. That | :23:28. | :23:36. | |
was down 11% on the previous year. It says that is because it lost | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
4009000 customer accounts as households switched to other | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
suppliers. The reason it's down is because of competitive intensity. We | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
lost customers in the first half of last year. The pricing pressure has | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
resulted in a reduction in margins in general and there have been other | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
cost pressures coming into the system. A price cap to protect | :24:00. | :24:08. | |
customers on prepayment meters will cost the firm ?53 million this year. | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
But that did not prevent the criticism of the level of costs. We | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
have vulnerable consumers paying too much. Older people and lower income | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
people. It underlines it again, the energy market isn't working for | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
consumers. Price rises by rise of firms have put energy prices back on | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
the agenda. The boss of Centrica, which owns British Gas, insists | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
there is no case for wide-ranging price controls. This market is | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
incredibly competitive. We have 50 suppliers and margins are down year | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
on year. I don't believe it is healthy for governments to find | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
themselves in the position of setting prices. If you do it once, | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
when do you stop? There was no word today on whether British Gas will | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
hike prices later this year. As for government intervention, a consumer | :25:04. | :25:04. | |
Green paper is due in the spring. In a week's time, the people | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
of Northern Ireland go to the polls to vote in elections | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
for a new Assembly. It was triggered because of a row | :25:13. | :25:14. | |
over a green energy scheme that went hundreds of millions | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
of pounds over budget. But if the DUP and Sinn Fein | :25:18. | :25:19. | |
are as expected the main winners in the vote, | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
what are the chances of them being able to form | :25:23. | :25:24. | |
a new power-sharing government? Let's cross to Belfast, | :25:25. | :25:26. | |
and to our Ireland I am in the Titanic Quarter weather | :25:27. | :25:38. | |
has been new developments, but the old divisions are clear at Stormont. | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
With the DUP and Sinn Fein exchanging harsh words over lots of | :25:43. | :25:51. | |
issues. It is a very divisive election. Are people as divided as | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
the politicians? I have been speaking to a group Queens in | :25:57. | :25:57. | |
Belfast. Elections are a time when people | :25:58. | :26:05. | |
come together, united in the task of making a choice but divided in their | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
views. Sometimes it can be because of their age, background or beliefs. | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
I will ask you a number of questions. We need you to be honest. | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
Who has been to the gym in the last week? There are the athletic, or at | :26:19. | :26:31. | |
least the enthusiastic. The romantics who send valentines cards | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
this year. And those prepared to admit, or forced to admit that they | :26:39. | :26:47. | |
have been drunk in the last week. But it is shared experiences who | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
could influence how individuals vote. Who has waited for hours or | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
more in accident and emergency to get treatment for themselves or | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
someone else? Waiting lists in Northern Ireland are one of the | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
longest in the UK and politicians here have described the health | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
service as a breaking point. I am an emergency nurse and there isn't | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
enough investment and in the community. We have to move the | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
politicians out of health, appoint someone in charge of it he will be | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
responsible for the operational matters. This isn't scientific, but | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
the response suggests this connects businesses, farmers, students and | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
senior citizens. Who has a close friend or relative who is gay or | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
lesbian? Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where same-sex | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
marriage is still illegal. It is a disgrace, everybody has the right to | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
decide who to marry and who to love. I am not sure, I have always | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
believed there should be a male and female to bring up a child. While | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
many here feel they don't fit into the traditional boxes of national or | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
Unionist, it is how the majority vote. Who is proud of Northern | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
Ireland? Interesting the split is right across the generation who | :28:08. | :28:10. | |
never knew the conflict, yet they are not proud of their country. The | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
reason it sucks is because there is so much we could be proud of but we | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
have an executive Mark by scandal, crisis and falling apart | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
consistently. Different views will influence that election result when | :28:25. | :28:27. | |
voters mark their preferences next week. | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
So far this election campaign has reflected the weather, it has been | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
pretty stormy. For the opposition parties hope to make gains could be | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
down to the DUP and Sinn Fein to make a deal if power-sharing is to | :28:44. | :28:45. | |
return and that could be difficult. For more information including | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
the candidates standing just go The BBC has learned that | :28:50. | :28:51. | |
around 10,000 motorists were still driving last month, | :28:52. | :29:04. | |
despite having too many penalty Usually drivers are banned | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
when they exceed 12 points. But magistrates are allowed | :29:09. | :29:11. | |
to waive the rule in cases Supporters say it gives | :29:12. | :29:13. | |
drivers another chance, but critics say bending the rules | :29:14. | :29:16. | |
puts other people at risk. Our correspondent | :29:17. | :29:18. | |
David Rhodes has more. From speeding to drink-driving, | :29:19. | :29:20. | |
failing to have insurance or causing a collision on the road, | :29:21. | :29:22. | |
penalty points are given to 12 active points on a licence | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
usually means a driver will be But figures obtained by the BBC, | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
it just under 10,000 drivers But figures obtained by the BBC, | :29:30. | :29:40. | |
show just under 10,000 drivers are still on the roads | :29:41. | :29:42. | |
despite having 12 or more points. Most are found in England, | :29:43. | :29:45. | |
with the largest number Although one driver in | :29:46. | :29:47. | |
West Yorkshire is still on the road despite having more than 60 points | :29:48. | :29:56. | |
on their licence. The law doesn't seem to be | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
working at the moment. We've got people obviously being | :30:00. | :30:01. | |
caught and going through the justice system but actually this whole | :30:02. | :30:04. | |
points system seems to be Drivers are getting away | :30:05. | :30:06. | |
with repeatedly breaking the law. Motorists with 12 points can appeal | :30:07. | :30:09. | |
to a Magistrates' Court just as this one and claim that a driving ban | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
would bring exceptional hardship upon their lives, | :30:14. | :30:15. | |
meaning they'd lose a job or be There is no definition | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
in law though, as to So one magistrate may decide | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
if a driving ban would cause someone to lose their job, | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
that is exceptional hardship. Another magistrate | :30:29. | :30:30. | |
may decide it isn't. Every ban is considered | :30:31. | :30:33. | |
on a case-by-case basis. The government says the vast | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
majority of drivers with 12 points are automatically disqualified | :30:39. | :30:40. | |
and only in exceptional circumstances can judges | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
decide not to issue a ban. The fact remains though, | :30:45. | :30:46. | |
that there are drivers who have continually broken the law, | :30:47. | :30:49. | |
who are still on our roads. As we have seen, Doris is a serious | :30:50. | :31:10. | |
storm, rain, wind and snow. The storm has been hurtling towards us | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
over the last few hours. Still has a sting in the tail for some before it | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
goes into other parts of northern Europe. The snowfall earlier on this | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
morning has been further north than we first anticipated. Some | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
disruptive snowfall north of the Central Belt. A winter wonderland | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
for some, but with the headache getting to work for others. That is | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
now heading further south and an amber warning in forced especially | :31:39. | :31:45. | |
in southern Scotland. Wintry showers pushing in across Northern Ireland. | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
A cold afternoon here. Further south, rain around but the main | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
story is the wind. I am putting on the gusts here, 50, 60 miles an hour | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
and in some places, as we have seen, they can cause some problems. Seems | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
like this early on in Chiswick in west London. An amber warning in | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
force for disruptive and damaging winds this afternoon. 60, 70 miles | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
an hour gusts will cause issues over the next beer hours. The worst of | :32:17. | :32:23. | |
the gusts will ease down. Last clear away from East England. Doris will | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
be clearing and the weather will settle down. But wintry showers will | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
be pushing in from the West with a lot of surface water. Ice will be a | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
hazard across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-west England as | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
well. Might be a slippery start on Friday morning. A chilly one but a | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
much more tranquil day on Friday. Welcome sunshine and a sparkling | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
start. One or two showers on the breeze as specially around coastal | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
areas. More rain turns up across Northern Ireland initially, pushing | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
in across Scotland and turning to snow on the Highlands. Temperatures | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
slow to rise but temperatures will continue to rise as we head into the | :33:04. | :33:06. | |
weekend. In combination with active fronts across the West of the UK, a | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
lot of surface water from the rain and a lot of snow melting. Problems | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
on the horizon across parts of the north-west and the UK and creeping | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
across north-west England, we could see some flooding. On Sunday, dry | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
weather, albeit cloudy at times. All the rain will be further north and | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
west. Blustery but thankfully not as windy as it is just now. | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
A reminder of our main story this lunchtime: | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
Storm Doris has brought widespread destruction across large part of the | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
UK. In Wolverhampton, a woman has died in a weather-related incident. | :33:47. | :33:48. | |
That's all from the BBC News at One, so it's goodbye from me | :33:49. | :33:51. |