25/07/2017 BBC News at Ten

BMW chooses to build a fully electric version

of the Mini in the UK - ministers say it's

The new model, which will be rolled out in 2019,

will be built in Oxford, where workers welcomed the news.

It's great for the business, and we are very thrilled that we are going

to be part of this huge success, hopefully.

It means that there is no problem with the thoughts of them

closing it down because of Brexit, so it's very good news.

We'll be asking how far BMW's decision reflects confidence

The parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard plead

with a High Court judge to let him return home to die.

Staff shortages in the NHS - more than 86,000 posts were vacant

in the first three months of this year.

America's Attorney-General faces yet more public

I told you before, I'm very disappointed with the

Attorney General. But we will see what happens.

And Britain's Adam Peaty breaks the 50 metres

breaststroke world record, becoming the first man ever

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News, out through injury -

Greg Rutherford says he's gutted to missing out of next month's

The government has hailed BMW's decision to build

a fully electric version of the Mini in the UK as "a vote

BMW have confirmed the model will go into production in 2019,

with the parts manufactured abroad, before the car is assembled

BMW had previously expressed fears about the uncertainty

Today it said it had "neither sought nor received" any reassurances

from the government on arrangements after Britain leaves the EU.

Here's our Transport Correspondent, Richard Westcott.

They make two thirds of the world's Minis here.

To the relief of workers, we now know that the new electric

It's great for the business, and we're very thrilled

that we will be part of this huge success, hopefully.

It means there is no problem with the thoughts of them closing it

down because of Brexit, so it is very good news.

BMW, who make the Mini, had hinted for months that the work

This is a significant boost for the Cowley plant, which is the

But to put it into context, it doesn't mean

they are going to get a brand-new production line.

It doesn't mean significant numbers of new jobs.

The investment runs to tens of millions

of pounds, but BMW, earlier this year, has already announced plans

to invest ?180 million in a plant in Germany,

However, it's not just about money, it's about politics, too.

The car industry has been one of the UK's big manufacturing

Keeping models in the UK is a boost to the

government as it tries to negotiate its Brexit deal.

We are determined to make Britain the go-to place for the next

They've got a fantastic workforce in Oxford already, and that

combination of planning for the future has convinced

The UK car industry has been pushing hard for up Brexit deal that

Since the referendum vote, Nissan has promised to make two new models

Toyota is spending a quarter of a billion updating

Still experts say the real test is yet to come.

I don't think this tells us very much about Brexit at all.

This is an adaptation of an existing car.

The big, big questions will be when BMW produces

like Vauxhall produce the next generation Astra.

The decision, will they decide to invest and produce

in the UK, or will the uncertainty about the future of our

relationship with Europe put them off staying in the UK?

So, a good day for the UK car industry,

but the government is still under enormous pressure to cut a Brexit

deal that secures its long-term future.

Our Deputy Political Editor, John Pienaar, is in Westminster.

To what extent is this a vote of confidence in the UK

Ministers are unnaturally keen this is seen as a vote of confidence in

Britain and Brexiteer is wanted to be seen as evidence that Britain has

nothing to fear as it heads towards the exit of the European Union. It

is not the only encouraging news. Amazon has said it is expanding its

UK operation. But there is discouragement and encouragement

wherever you look. EasyJet and Deutsche bank are two important

companies that have started to move investment to the continent of

Europe as a safeguard against Brexit. For the rest of us, we have

learned that Britain will continue to be a major economic player during

and after Brexit. None of it will persuade those who have doubts that

Britain will come through this without taking a knock. Everything

depends on those negotiations. Ministers want and need free-flowing

trade between Britain and the continent. What business leaders and

European leaders want is certainty. Although there is plenty of

pessimism and optimism among politicians at Westminster,

certainty now and for the foreseeable future is a commodity

which is going to be in short supply. John Pienaar.

The parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard are tonight

waiting to find out if they'll be able to take him home to die.

Having abandoned their fight to keep Charlie alive,

his mother Connie Yates returned to the High Court to

ask that her son leave Great Ormond Street Hospital.

A judge will make the final decision tomorrow.

Charlie's parents are now pleading for a doctor who can help

Our Medical Correspondent, Fergus Walsh, reports.

The legal battle over this desperately sick boy now centres on

Charlie needs a mechanical ventilator to breathe.

Yesterday, his parents gave up their fight to take him

to the United States, and agreed no more

But Charlie's mum, Connie, was back at court this

afternoon, to make it clear she did not want him to die

in the intensive care unit, where he's been since October.

The parents' lawyer said it was their last wish that

for a few days of tranquillity outside the hospital setting.

Lawyers for the parents said they would pay private nurses

to take over his care, and seek to recover the costs from the NHS.

But the court heard there were practical issues to

be resolved - for example, whether Charlie's ventilator would fit

In a statement, Great Ormond Street Hospital said it wanted to

honour the parents' wishes, but the care plan must be safe,

it must spare Charlie all pain and it must protect his dignity.

Charlie is a child who requires highly specialised treatment.

The dispute over where and how soon Charlie should

die typifies the utter breakdown in the relationship

between the parents and the hospital.

The judge, Mr Justice Francis, said this was a matter

Great Ormond Street said it offered that, but the parents have refused.

The judge said the parents were entitled to decide where they

spent the next few days, but it should not extend into weeks.

That would be unacceptable, as it would simply extend

Charmian Evans lost her son, Guy, when he was five.

He was profoundly disabled and tube fed.

They've got to learn to let him go at all sorts of levels.

They've got to know that stuff happens and they mustn't be bitter

because it will eat them. There's no point in that.

What they've got to do is look at all the positive things.

The hospital has offered a compromise.

Charlie can be transferred to a hospice, where

doctors from Great Ormond is the would supervise his

palliative care and death after a period of some hours.

His parents said they want days, not hours, and a hospice is a

Fergus Wallace, BBC News at the High Court.

The fate of the US Attorney-General appears to be hanging

in the balance, as President Trump today called him "weak", and said

he was disappointed in him, a day after saying

The president has criticised Jeff Sessions for intelligence leaks.

Our North America Editor, Jon Sopel, is in Washington.

It is hardly the stuff from the human Resources handbook. Have the

boss publicly humiliate and undermine you repeatedly. That is

what is unfolding in Washington at the moment. Donald Trump's

catchphrase as the host of the apprentice was, you are fired. Over

the attorney general it seems hard to avoid begins reason that he wants

Jeff Sessions to fire himself. What is certainly clear it is hard to

believe this situation can carry on like this much longer.

Jeff Sessions, the man who presides over America's judicial system,

seemingly about to face rough justice from his boss and one-time

For the past two days, Donald Trump has taken potshots

at his top law enforcement officer via Twitter.

The President of the United States and the President of

the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Lebanon.

And the President heaped further ignominy on the Attorney-General

in a Rose Garden news conference this afternoon over Sessions'

decision to step aside from the Russian investigation.

I am disappointed in the Attorney-General.

He should not have recused himself almost immediately

And if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me

And I would have quite simply picked somebody else.

are you going to fire the Attorney-General?

I told you before, I'm very disappointed

with the Attorney-General, but we will see what happens.

Time will tell. Time will tell.

If Sessions does go over the whole Russia investigation,

then he will join the former FBI Director James Comey

sacked over this issue, and the former National Security

Adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired after lying about his

All of which begs the question, what happens next to Robert Mueller,

the special counsel called on to investigate the sprawling

If he goes, that is bound to lead to charges that the President

in the Senate the Democrats fired a warning shot.

Many Americans must be wondering if the president is trying to pry

open the office of Attorney-General to appoint someone during the August

recess who will fire special counsel Mueller and shutdown

Even if the President has disagreements with him,

which I think founded, self-centred and wrong,

you don't ridicule him in public. Someone who is your close friend.

Jeff Sessions was the first senator to endorse Donald Trump

during the campaign, giving his candidacy a massive boost

and has given the President unswerving loyalty ever since.

More than 86,000 NHS posts were vacant in England in the first

The latest figures show the number of vacancies were up by almost 8,000

compared with the same period last year, with nursing

The Royal College of Nursing says patient care is suffering,

but the government insists it IS investing in front line staff.

Our Health correspondent, Dominic Hughes, reports.

Looking after people when they are at their most

vulnerable, providing compassionate and professional care

is the main challenge and biggest reward for Nurse Michelle Turner

at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.

It is a tough job that carries enormous

It is a privilege to be a nurse, to be valued in the

To have people put their lives in your hands on a daily basis.

And it is the biggest privilege that you can have.

But finding more nurses seems to be a problem,

according to a new analysis of the NHS jobs being advertised.

Around 86,000 NHS posts in England were recorded as vacant in the first

In March alone, more than 30,000 jobs were advertised,

4,000 more than the same period the previous year.

The majority of those unfilled this March were nurses and midwives.

Today's figures indicate that many Hospital trusts across England

are struggling not just to recruit staff, but to retain them as well.

So hospitals are having to think about cleverer, smarter,

more flexible ways of using those staff they already have.

Growing patient demand has meant that, like many hospitals,

the Royal Blackburn has created extra nursing post.

But that doesn't make it any easier to recruit qualified

staff to fill those jobs, and that may be one factor driving

But that doesn't make it any easier to recruit qualified

staff to fill those jobs, and that may be one factor driving

We have had recruitment problems as a trust,

similar to most trusts across the country, to be fair.

But we have had a significant drive on recruitment.

We have open recruitment days, we have been out internationally to

The data for England reflects similar problems across the UK.

But experts warn recruitment is a long-term issue with no simple

It's difficult because of the time it takes

It's hard to predict how many you will need in five or ten

years' time, or how policy will change.

We have mitigated the risk in the past by getting staff from

overseas, particularly from the European Union.

We also have issues around morale and retention.

The Department of Health in England says staffing is a priority, but

more money being invested in front-line positions.

Collating job adverts may, in fact, underestimate the real level of

staff shortages. One ad may be for several posts.

But it does highlight the ongoing problems the NHS faces

with staff recruitment and retention.

House builders could be banned from selling leaseholds

Leaseholds are on the increase - and they can lead to exorbitant

and unexpected costs for the homeowner.

The government has called the practice unjust and unnecessary.

We all know that Britain needs more homes.

But the terms and conditions attached to some new-build houses

in England are causing a great deal of distress.

Traditionally, houses have nearly always been sold

as freehold properties, meaning the buyer owns the building

However, there has been a growing trend to sell houses as leasehold,

meaning the buyer doesn't actually own the land.

In some cases, the freeholds are sold on to investment companies,

Today's report found one owner believed they would be able to buy

the freehold in the future for ?2000.

But the final bill was 20 times that.

The leaseholder also has to pay ground rent to the freeholder.

Traditionally, a small amount - but that figure is now rising.

Claire Scott bought her house in Bolton four years ago.

But when she recently tried to sell it, the buyers backed out

when they saw a clause in the contract saying the ground

By 2060, it will cost nearly ?10,000 a year.

The past 12 months have been an absolute nightmare for us.

We didn't realise we had an issue with the house until we came to sell

it and then the house sale fell through.

That meant that we now have to rent out the house and we can't get

That's causing us a lot of financial distress.

This development on the outskirts of Manchester is all new-build,

It is a way for developers to make more money.

But some people say there's no place for leasehold

What we're talking about here are houses that are being sold

on leasehold, thousands of them, for no good reason, and then once

they are sold the people that have purchased them are exposed to these

Enough is enough and we are taking action.

Critics say the Government has known about and ignored

And this consultation doesn't definitely mean things will change.

Pressure groups say the situation is a scandal.

It's not only the people who thought they were buying a home,

many of these people were assisted by the Help To Buy Scheme.

This means we have been underwriting their mortgages by 20%

to get first-time buyers onto the property ladder.

The builders have taken us all for a ride and they've got

House-builders say leasehold does work for some developments,

and they are committed to being fair.

But the Government now wants to ban leasehold contracts for newly

There have been heated exchanges this evening,

as survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster met with the judge leading

Sir Martin Moore-Bick was told that residents have no confidence

Our Home Affairs Correspondent, Tom Symonds, is in West London,

It was another fractious meeting. Tell us more about what was said. As

this meeting went on, the chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick was face it

with growing levels of anger from people who live in this area and had

come to hear what he was saying. Some said to him, we have no

confidence in you, you don't look like as. Others said, you're very

presence here is an affront. He said he would be independent and get to

the bottom of the grand for fire tragedy. Richard Miller QC said Tom

I'm proud to live in a country which is set up an independent enquiry of

pretty dull people but determined to root out the truth. The chairman

rejected suggestions he could order the arrests of guilty people and

said he had no power to do that. That was the job of the police who

investigate criminality but his job was to find facts. His job is to

come up with recommendations for the Prime Minister about the scope of

this enquiry. She will make the final decision and that decision is

expected next month. Tom, thank you. UK animal welfare standards could be

under threat after Brexit if farmers are left to compete against cheaper,

less regulated rivals That's according to a House of Lords

committee which says the government must insist on similar standards

in any new trade agreements to avoid Here's our Science

Editor David Shukman. VOICEOVER: Chicken and turkey

are an all-American favourite. A hard sell from the

American food industry. With industrial scale

farms and fewer rules about caring for animals,

costs are far lower than here. And a House of Lords committee

worries about the impact Welfare standards are nothing

like the leading globally ones we have here in United Kingdom

so British farmers can be undercut. If that happens then

we could potentially see family farms going out of business,

the whole countryside changing. At the moment, the welfare

of British animals is largely Ministers keep saying

they won't water those down, but along with welfare come other

questions about the future For example, the way American

chickens are processed The use of food grain

antimicrobial rinses... In particular the way the carcasses

are rinsed in chlorine. This is now a kind of political

football in the debate So what are the facts

about chickens and chlorine? Well, in Europe, the approach

to food hygiene is called Farm to Fork, keeping chickens as clean

as possible through every stage. By contrast, in America,

farmers are allowed a lower standard of hygiene while the chickens

are alive because when they are killed they are immersed in that

chlorinem a bit stronger than you'd killed they are immersed in that

chlorine a bit stronger than you'd find in a swimming pool

to kill any bacteria. Now the European Food Standards

Agency concluded that there is no Even so, chickens washed in chlorine

are banned by the EU so what next? Well, tonight the International

Trade Secretary in Washington denied There's no food safety issue

with chlorine-washed goods because the European Union

themselves say that I think more of an issue would be

around the animal welfare issues that that might suggest

and of course we've got no intention of reducing the quality

and standards of our regulation. So with a new trade deal

in prospect, what do At the New Forest Show in Hampshire,

we asked if people wanted cheaper prices of the kind American

farmers might offer? Or would they prefer better

welfare for animals? A combination of both.

Welfare. Animals.

A combination of both. No, it isn't, not at all.

Animal welfare, definitely. This is a nation of animal lovers,

but it's also a time of pressure on people's incomes and the prospect

of cheaper food from beyond Europe In Syria, US-backed Kurdish forces

are now thought to have gained control of nearly half the city

of Raqqa, the last remaining stronghold

of so-called Islamic State. The offensive has led

thousands to flee the city, including some families

of IS militants. The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil has spoken

to one of the IS wives who has just fled the city and who's now

being held on its outskirts. They came from different parts

of the world with one aim - to join the self-proclaimed

caliphate. Now they've escaped

and are being held by the Kurdish Iman and her husband left Tunisia

for Raqqa, the so-called She says she wanted to live

a proper Islamic life. I had many questions and I managed

to send them to her. Iman, I'm just wondering

if you saw other videos, videos of beheadings,

of them burning people alive? How did you think

that was proper Islam? But she says when they arrived it

wasn't what they expected. Iman's husband is now in

a Kurdish-run prison outside Raqqa. It's hard to determine

whether the women who At some point they were all part

of the so-called Islamic State. Now she's hoping he'll grow up

as far away from the Islamic State Do you think they'll take you back

easily and how do you expect them to believe you or forgive

you when you've been part These children know nothing but life

under the Islamic State. For now they and their mothers

are stuck between a caliphate they fled and homelands that may not

want them back. Britain's Adam Peaty has had

an extraordinary day at the swimming At 22, he had already accomplished

the feat of swimming the ten fastest times ever

in the 100 metres breaststroke. And today he smashed his

own record, not once Here's our Sports

Correspondent Joe Wilson. COMMENTATOR: This is

perfect from Peaty. There are things he does which might

make you doubt that. Tuesday morning he woke up,

went to the pool in Budapest for a heat in the 50

metres breast stroke. Well he hadn't really

meant to do that. I wanted it but I don't know

if I wanted it in the heats, but you can't pick and choose

but I'm so grateful to obviously be in front of that crowd and hopefully

again tonight we'll push it Peaty in lane four, already

the world 100 metres champion. Victories come so frequently for him

he needs records to motivate him. Swimming 50 metres in a pool

is something a lot of people try. How quickly do you think

it's possible to do it? Well Peaty was travelling at a pace

even the most experienced observers This is the 50 metres breast

stroke and look at this. I never thought I would live to see

the day when a breast stroke swimmer Coming out there tonight,

I was a bit down because it's been I was like, right, get yourself up

for it and do what I do and I'm not going to waste a day,

I'm not going to waste an opportunity because I don't know

when it's going to be my last. I just went out there

tonight and did what I do. Well, Peaty is only 22 so let's

expect more opportunities, Even by Peaty's standards,

that's special. It's 50 years this week

since the laws on homosexuality Our Special Correspondent

Allan Little has been looking at what the changes

to the Sexual Offences Act meant in 1967 and how they affected people

in the years that followed. In 1967 a change in the law did not

bring a change in attitudes. This is the BBC's

Man Alive programme. VOICEOVER: For many of

us this is revolting. Homosexuals in this country

today break the law. These two have lived

together for 26 years. They might almost be a married

couple but they are still I couldn't believe just

because I wanted somebody to love me and to have friendship I had

to suffer all this. They put me in a cell

and I was in a cell from Saturday This is a celebration to mark

the anniversary of the Act, hosted by an LGBT group for the over

50s called Opening Doors. Some here were sexually active when

it was still a criminal offence. Well, it's like living

in an alien society, I had to just make out

a false lifestyle really. It is like being non-existent,

you know, like you just weren't The Act did not apply to Scotland

or Northern Ireland and even in England and Wales it

did not end prosecution. Right into the 1990s,

police used the gross indecency laws to continue to criminalise gay

behaviour and social activity. VOICEOVER: It is a deadly disease

and there is no known cure. In the '80s, HIV and Aids brought

a new atmosphere of moral panic. By the end of the decade,

the number of gross indecency prosecutions against gay men

was as high as it had Many many lead

completely double lives. The writer Maureen Duffy

who campaigned for the 1977 Act The writer Maureen Duffy

who campaigned for the 1967 Act says it was not a moment

of sudden liberation. But never assume that what you have

achieved you have got for good and it cannot be reversed

because at any time, And there are sometimes still some

very nasty rumblings and utterances, partially stoked by the use

of social media, that could turn very nasty indeed

if we're not vigilant. In July 1967, the Home Secretary Roy

Jenkins told Parliament that homosexuality was a disability that

brought lifelong shame. It has taken generations of

vigilance to get from there to this. That's all from the BBC News at Ten

so it's goodbye from me and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.