29/01/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: The EU spells

out its terms and conditions

for the UK's transition

period after Brexit.

The EU's chief negotiator says

the UK will have to obey EU rules

during the transition but will not

be able to vote on EU

policy matters.

At Westminster some Conservative MPs

resent the notion of obeying rules

they don't like but the message

from Brussels couldn't

be more explicit.

It will continue to have

all the economic benefits,

therefore it must also apply

all the EU rules.

The single market

cannot be a la carte.

We'll have more from Brussels

as Theresa May faces criticism

at home from her own side

for the way she's handling Brexit.

Also tonight:

More than 1.5 million people

receiving the main disability

benefit are now to have their claims

reviewed after a court ruling.

We talk exclusively

to the head of the CIA

about the threat from Russia

and President Trump's

mental faculties.

The claim that the President isn't

engaged and doesn't have a grasp on

these important issues

is dangerous and false.

In Belfast a loyalist paramilitary

leader who became a police informer

is jailed for more than 200

terrorism offences including murder.

And David Beckham celebrates

being awarded the Major League

Soccer franchise in Miami

after a four-year battle.

And coming up on BBC News: League

one leaders Wigan land and FA Cup

rematch with Premier League

high-flyers Manchester City in the

fifth round draw.

fifth round draw.

Good evening.

The EU has agreed what it's

prepared to offer the UK

in the period after Brexit.

Ministers have set out

the terms for a transition

deal lasting 21 months.

Crucially the EU says that

during the transition the UK

will have to obey the rules

of the single market

and the customs union but it

will have no voting rights.

The EU also wants citizens to be

able to settle in the UK as they can

now and that would be the case

until the 31st December 2020.

Downing Street said there was broad

agreement on the framework.

Some Conservative MPs have said

it is wholly unacceptable.

First tonight, our Europe editor

Katya Adler reports from Brussels.

Brexit is back on the Brussels

agenda after a longish winter break.

Today ministers from the 27 EU

countries came here to agree

guidelines for the transition phase

to follow immediately

after Brexit, aware of political

volatility back in London.

Do you worry about the fragility

of the UK government?

Though clearly not

keen to talk about it.

The ministers are only giving

themselves ten minutes

in there to agree EU guidelines

for transition negotiations.

It is a very public display of EU

unity in stark contrast, they know,

to what is going on in the UK.

Still speaking today

to a House of Lords committee,

the Brexit secretary appeared

relaxed about the transition

period at least.

It is pretty clear.

We want a high degree

of stability, we want the right

to do deals outside.

Broadly that is it and ideally

we want some control

over our own destiny in terms

of any subsequent negotiation.

It is pretty simple really.

But is it?

Mr Davis was speaking

in London at the same time

as his European counterpart took

to the podium in Brussels.

And he made it plain

that the transition period

would transfer the UK from rule

maker to rule taker.

During a transition period

if decisions are taken by the EU 27

which are not acceptable

to the United Kingdom, what action

can the UK government take?

TRANSLATION: The UK asked

for this transition period,

giving it full access to the single

market to provide

stability for business.

We are agreeing to that,

but to benefit from the single

market the UK has to

accept our rules.

Single market a la carte

is just not possible.

Mr Barnier said the UK

would have to respect rulings

by the European Court of Justice

and would not be allowed to enter

into new trade deals

with other countries.

And there are more

possible flash points.

Duration - the EU says

the transition should last

a total of 21 months,

the UK may want more time.

Freedom of movement -

Brussels insists EU citizens

have the right to move to the UK

and apply for permanent residency

throughout the transition period.

Observer status - the UK will have

to pay into the EU budget

during transition and observe all EU

regulations, though it will no

longer be a decision maker.

In all the fraught Brexit

negotiations this was supposed

to be the easy part.

After all, the UK requested

a transition period from the EU.

So the warning here now is if talks

get too tricky over transition,

that could eat into the precious

time left under EU law to discuss

EU-UK future regulations before

the UK leaves the bloc

in March 2019.

The message from here once again

is the ball is in the UK's court.

Katya Adler, BBC News, Brussels.

At Westminster there's evidence

of mounting concern among some

Conservative MPs about the prime

minister's leadership and her

handling of the Brexit process.

Our political correspondent

Vicki Young is at Westminster.

First of all, the response there to

what was said today by Michel

Barnier.

Across the political

parties most MPs accept this. They

think it will give UK businesses

time to adapt to what is coming. But

there is some concern for some MPs

who described this as an ultimatum

and something they do not think

Theresa May should accept. They

think she has been far too generous

and she should stand up to Brussels

and they think maybe we will walk

away without a deal. They want to

take back control. The idea we keep

putting money in and accept all the

rules for almost two years goes

totally against what they wanted. In

testing from David Davis today, he

made the point it was an

negotiation. That was the opening

remark from Michel Barnier. There

will be negotiation and he even

predicted some bust ups over whether

the UK will be able to sign trade

deals with other countries during

the condition period.

For those MPs

who are concerned or dismayed about

Theresa May's leadership, is that

all down to Brexit or to do with

other policy areas?

No, it is not

all to do with Brexit and that is

why it is so dangerous for her. A

number of MPs are speaking out

because they are frustrated about

the lack of progress on domestic

policies. They were pleased when she

became Prime Minister and topped

about social mobility and helping

the just about managing, but now

they say she is not showing enough

vision. They want more from her.

Will they make that giant leap and

trigger some sort of contest? There

are voices in the party urging

everyone to calm down. Senior

members wanted to reason made to

name a date when she is going to

leave and go to a dark room and lie

down and put a wet towel around her

head. We will see in the coming

months whether that is advised she

will take.

will take.

The 1.6 million people who receive

the main disability benefit,

the Personal Independence Payment,

are to have their cases reviewed.

This follows a court ruling

that the government had

discriminated against claimants

with mental health conditions.

Officials have calculated that

solving the issue will cost nearly

£4 billion pounds over the next five

years, as our social

affairs correspondent

Michael Buchanan explains.

Chloe Clark is a busy mother of

three. Her serious anxiety and

depression means she cannot leave

the house until she is with close

family member. Her condition was

caused by psychological disorders

rather than a physical problem and

she was denied payment.

I cannot

walk 200 metres without my husband

Anthony that is not aid, he is my

aid, and take that away and I cannot

walk 200 metres.

Such differences

have infuriated mental health

campaigners who brought the case to

the High Court. In December the

judge found in their favour, finding

the new rules discriminating against

people with psychiatric conditions.

In the Commons last week the

government said they would abide by

the ruling.

We are not appealing the

outcome of the judgment in order to

provide certainty to our claimants.

The consequences of that decision

have now become apparent. Every

person on PIP will have their cases

reviewed. That is 1.6 million

people. Ministers cannot say how

long it will take, but we know at

the end of the process around

220,000 people will get extra money

and the total cost is £3.7 billion

by 2022-23.

We want to know how long

this will take. Will it take weeks,

months or years? The government have

not come up with any timetable as to

how they are going to rectify the

mess that they have got themselves

into.

Convinced they had public

backing, ministers repeatedly cut

welfare payments in recent years,

but some now argue the reforms have

gone far enough and welcomed the

decision.

This is a series of

improvements that pleased me because

it shows the government can be

controlling and careful with money,

but also spend it on vulnerable

people who need our support.

Who

will get money and how much they

will get is not clear, but for those

like Chloe who felt discriminated

against it feels as though ministers

have finally listened to them.

In Belfast, a former Loyalist

paramilitary commander who admitted

to hundreds of terrorist offences

including five murders has been

jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Gary Haggarty's sentence

was dramatically reduced

because he'd offered to give

evidence against his

former associates.

The son of one of his victims said

Haggarty was a serial killer

who should have been locked up

for life, as our correspondent

Chris Page reports.

ARCHIVE NEWS VOICEOVER:

Eamon Fox and Gary Convie were shot

dead by a UVF gunman...

Sean McDermott was bundled

into his car and his body

was discovered early yesterday...

The children ran crying

from the house after the gunman shot

their grandfather...

Gary Haggarty left a legacy

of brutality, fear and grief.

For 16 years he was a leading member

of the Ulster Volunteer Force.

During the Troubles,

the organisation murdered almost 400

people, more than any other

Loyalist paramilitary group.

The UVF unit which Haggarty led

here in north Belfast had

a particularly savage reputation.

But even as he was running

a sectarian murder campaign,

he was working as an

informer to the police.

Eight years ago he offered to give

evidence against his former

associates in exchange for a shorter

sentence for his own crimes.

He pleaded guilty to five murders

and almost 200

other terrorist offences.

In court today, the judge said,

under normal circumstances Haggarty

would have gone to prison for 35

years, but he reduced the term

to six and a half years.

The families of those Haggarty

killed feel the justice system

has let them down terribly.

Justice.

What is justice in this country?

It is just designed to look

after the criminal.

It's...

How can a man convicted of that many

crimes be set free into society?

The man's a serial killer.

He was a paid state informant.

He was allowed to kill at will.

The man who was described in court

as an enthusiastic terrorist

is the most senior Loyalist ever

to turn supergrass.

In more than 1,000 interviews

with detectives, Haggarty made

allegations about 14 other UVF men

and two police officers

who he gave information to.

But prosecutors have decided

to use his evidence against just one

paramilitary suspect.

Northern Ireland's Victims

Commissioner says new agencies and

approaches are needed

to deal with the dreadful

events of the past.

It does lead you to a conversation

which is slightly different, which

says, what processes can we have

with a legal framework which says,

well, what information

can you retrieve, what

acknowledgement can be given?

For people who want to know things,

how can we give them that?

The controversial case has again

shown the complexity of

investigating what happened

during the Troubles.

Hundreds of killings

remain unsolved.

Northern Ireland is a place

where history still hurts.

The head of the CIA has warned that

Russia will try to interfere

in America's upcoming mid-term

elections this November.

Mike Pompeo, who briefs

President Trump personally most

days, told the BBC that recent

claims about the President's

mental faculties were

"dangerous and false".

In his first international interview

Mr Pompeo also warned

that there were only a few months

to find a diplomatic solution

to the North Korean nuclear crisis.

He's been speaking

exclusively to our security

correspondent Gordon Corera.

It is one of the most famous and yet

secret buildings in the world.

The headquarters of the Central

Intelligence Agency.

Everyone's seen this,

it's in all the movies.

Showing me round is

Mike Pompeo, who's just

marked a year as its head.

A tumultuous time around

the world, and in Washington.

He's not shy about

the CIA's mission.

Saying he's unleashed

the agency to take more risks.

We are the worlds finest

espionage service.

I am incredibly proud of that.

We are going to go out there and do

our damnedest to steal secrets.

On behalf of the American people.

In the room where America's most

secret operations are planned,

I asked about Russia and claims it

interfered in America's last

election, as well in Europe.

Do you see signs that Russian

activity is lessening,

in terms of subversion in Europe

and the United States?

I haven't seen significant

decrease in their activity.

Do you have concerns that they might

try and interfere in the US midterms

which are coming up?

Of course.

I have every expectation

that they will continue

to try and do that.

But I'm confident that

America will be able

to have a free and fair election.

They will push back in a way

that is sufficiently robust,

that the impact they have

on our election won't be great.

Do you ever find yourself having

to walk a fine line with a president

who has said that talk

about Russian, particularly

collusion is fake news,

and an agency that says

there were attempts in 2016

to influence the election?

I don't do fine lines.

I do the truth.

We deliver nearly every day,

personally, to the president,

the most exquisite truth

that we know.

A recent book, of which I'm sure

you're aware, suggested

that the president was not quite up

to it, that he might not

quite have the faculties.

What's your response to that,

as someone who sits in the room

with him many mornings?

Yeah.

It's absurd.

The claim that the president is not

engaged and doesn't have a grasp

on these important issues

is dangerous and false.

And it saddens me that someone

would have taken the time

to write such drivel.

Is it tricky for you though,

when you've been in these briefings

and then you might come out

and there might be some tweet

about a foreign policy issue?

I mean, when the president

talks about "Rocket Man",

isn't there a danger that it's

raising the temperature

with something like North Korea

and it could actually lead to some

kind of escalation?

Kim Jong-un has never appreciated

the risk that he presents

to the world in the way

that he does today.

And so when you see this language

that the president chooses to use,

the many audiences for it,

and I can share with your audience

today that I assure you Kim Jong-un

understands the message,

that America is serious about this.

The CIA director says that his job

is to find other ways of stopping

America being at risk from a nuclear

armed North Korea,

should diplomacy fail.

Are there options that

are available do you think,

short of all-out war?

A lot of people think that

option was cause massive

destruction and loss of life.

Well they're right about that.

There is a set of military tasks

that might have to be undertaken

and they would in fact cause

enormous damage and our president

and our senior leaders

are very mindful of that.

How much time do you think there is,

because in the past people

have talked about it

being an imminent threat?

We talk about him having the ability

to deliver a nuclear weapon

to the United States in a matter

of a handful of months.

Stopping attacks and stealing

secrets is the CIA's mission.

The stars on this wall mark those

who died carrying it out.

The way in which the agency has gone

about its work has always reflected

the president it serves.

And Donald Trump's CIA under

Mike Pompeo will be an agency

that won't hold back.

Wherever that might take it.

Gordon Corera, BBC News,

Langley, Virginia.

The deputy director of the FBI,

Andrew McCabe, is stepping down.

It follows recent reports

which suggested President Trump

wanted him removed.

Our North America editor

Jon Sopel is outside FBI

headquarters in Washington.

How is this being interpreted?

Well,

on one level you could say what's

the big deal? Andrew McCabe was due

to retire in March and he's gone a

few weeks early, does it matter?

Well yes it does because he had been

under sustained pressure and attack

from Donald Trump because the

president thought he was partisan,

pro-Democrat. His wife stood for

State Senate in her genitals to and

of course this comes after the

firing of FBI director James Comey

and it looks now like Andrew McCabe

has gone under pressure. A lot of

the reaction to this depends if

you're a Democrat or Republican, the

Democrats saying this is a sustained

assault on the independence of the

FBI and Justice Department in an

attempt to undermine the Russian

investigation we were just hearing

about. Republicans say the Russia

investigation is deeply flawed,

there is bias in the FBI and are

calling for the release of this

controversial memo written by the

house chairman of the intelligence

committee which is reported to

allege that there is corruption in

the Robert Mueller investigation.

There are plenty of allegations and

very few facts apart from the one

Andrew McCabe stood down today.

Thank you very much.

A mother whose young children

were left on their own at home

after their father died suddenly

is calling on schools in England

to have a better system

for emergency contacts.

Helen Daykin was away

on business when her husband

Chris died while looking

after their two daughters.

But the school didn't try to contact

her to say her daughter

was absent from school.

She's been speaking to our education

editor Branwen Jeffreys.

Chris Daykin was

devoted to his girls.

He took photos, almost every day.

Chris was the stay at home parent,

while his wife Helen

travelled away for work,

leaving Pearl and Iris

with their dad.

It was on a trip to London

that she became worried.

As the day went on,

I was ringing, just randomly

and I hadn't got an answer.

And then one of my neighbours rang,

to say that the milk

was still on the doorstep.

It was a while before I got

through to somebody,

to find out that Pearl was not

at school that day.

I got on the train and at eight

o'clock I got a phone call to say

that my husband had died.

But that the children were OK.

So the police had broke

in, the children were

found in bed with him.

Pearl was only four and had

just started school.

Her little sister, Iris, was two.

They spent the night,

day and evening near the body

of their dad, too frightened

to go downstairs.

They do talk about it.

Pearl, especially.

It is imprinted in her memory.

So, they have got grief

but they have also got trauma.

On top.

Being there, seeing the daylight,

seeing it go dark again,

being hungry and cold,

not knowing when Mummy

was coming home.

Helen now wants change.

The school only tried to ring Chris.

She wants schools to have at least

two contact names with home

visits if no one answers.

There is no reason why this

could not happen again.

No reason at all.

How the children did not hurt

themselves, I've got no idea.

So, I just don't want

anybody to have to go

through this, what we went

through as a family, again.

It is not the only case.

Esther Eketi-Mulo, a single mum,

died suddenly of epilepsy.

Her four year old son Chadrack had

learning difficulties.

The school rang his mum repeatedly.

It was the only contact

number they had.

Over the next few days,

staff came here twice,

but could not get access

to the block of flats.

Chadrack's body was found two

weeks later, curled up

next to that of his mum.

His school now has new policies

on checking on pupils.

Chadrack's death has lead

to wider calls for change.

Ministers may ask schools

to keep a second contact

number, but the review

here into what happened

is likely to go further.

Having a second phone number

is a great tactical option,

but if that number is not answered,

then what do you do?

So our agenda for government

is to say, breathe life into this,

make the policy something that

drives an activity and says

until you tick the box that

says the child is safe,

then everything else

does not matter.

Chadrack's lonely death

here was a preventable tragedy,

a child alone in a busy block

of flats, one more contact number

might have made a difference,

but it is not enough for Chris'

family or for Helen, dealing

with the trauma of her girls.

Branwen Jeffreys, BBC News.

An independent report commissioned

by the BBC into the pay levels

of some of its presenters

will be published tomorrow.

Our media editor Amol Rajan has

some of the details.

What have you found out?

I think

what we will see from the BBC and

director-general is a combination of

humility, and contrition. They used

two argument is that it would be

inflationary and poacher 's charter,

neither of which stood the test of

time, both coming out as rather

specious. The BBC will be frank

about the fact it has made mistakes

over many years on the issue of

gender pay across the organisation

and also the legal requirement of

equal pay for equal work. I can

reveal two sources have told me

there is a proposal on the table to

limit the pay of full-time news

presenters at £320,000 not fully

signed off but it is a proposal

which will come out later this week.

There is also confidence here at

senior levels that when other

organisations are forced to reveal

their gender pay gap later this year

the BBC will end up looking quite

good. There are many high earners at

the BBC on who we don't have the

full picture because they are paid

by independent production companies

but at this stage we can see this

whole saga has strengthened the case

for greater transparency in public

life and fortified the principle

that the public have a right to know

much more about how their money is

spent and misspent.

Indeed, thank

you very much.

Officials in Cape Town have opened

a Disaster Operations Centre,

to put in place plans to shut down

the city's water supply.

South Africa's second-largest city

is in the midst of a severe drought,

with residents limited to using 50

litres of water per day -

just over half an average bath.

If the taps are turned off,

so-called Day Zero is projected

to fall in early April.

it will mean Cape Town

will become the world's first

major city to run dry,

as our correspondent

Andrew Harding reports.

Glorious Cape Town.

The most idyllic, the most pampered

corner of an entire continent.

Until now.

Suddenly a city of 4 million people

is running out of water -

at alarming speed.

As rationing begins,

there are queues for spring water.

It's a bit scary and uncertain.

Based on the experience of filling

up here it's intimidating

about what's to come.

Here's the problem.

The reservoirs Cape Town

depends on are parched,

after three years of drought

no one predicted.

The experts blame climate change.

Hotter temperatures,

erratic rainfall.

We really are, you know, the canary

in the cage at the moment.

So all of these predictions

which are being made

about the impacts of climate

change are happening.

They are happening now.

To us here, before our eyes,

all around the world.

In a panic the city

is drilling for water.

Tapping into rainfall which seeped

underground a million years ago.

But the process is slow

and time is short.

And so Capetonians of all stripes

are preparing for the worst.

There is a real sense

of anxiety here as people

countdown to Day Zero,

waiting for the moment

when all the taps are switched off

and everyone is forced to queue

in places like this

for their daily ration of water.

In the meantime, many

here are embracing the challenge.

Posting water saving tips online.

Seven litres per shower,

to three litres.

Impressively the city has nearly

halved its water consumption.

There you go.

We are in this together.

And we have to build a sense of one

nation with one future,

where everybody needs to get decent

basic services and we all need

to pull together to make sure that

everybody gets them,

all the time.

But some people

are not playing along.

We join the police as they hunt

for Cape Town's newest outlaws.

Car washers.

Buckets and sponges are confiscated.

Fines handed out.

As a thirsty city fights for every

last drop of water and waits to see

if those tantalising clouds

on Table Mountain

will finally oblige.

Andrew Harding, BBC News, Cape Town.

The former England football

captain David Beckham has

fulfilled his long-held ambition

and launched a Major League

Soccer team in Miami.

The team will see

professional football

return to the city for the first

time since 2001.

Beckham described the deal

as a "dream come true" as our sports

correspondent Natalie Pirks reports.

This is how America does football,

with much fanfare and franchises.

David Beckham is once again

lending his star power

to Major League Soccer,

this time as an owner of Miami,

the league's 24th club.

Today you made my dream come true.

APPLAUSE.

It's a dream that's been

a long time coming,

part of the contract that lured

Beckham as a player from Europe

to Los Angeles in 2007

was a cut-price deal

to own his own club some day.

He told me his competitive nature

kept the franchise alive.

There were moments when I didn't

think it was gonna happen.

But I don't like to lose.

I don't give in very easily

and I always believed in Miami.

I always believed that this

is where I wanted our team.

And finally we're here.

Well, this where the stadium

is currently slated to be built,

an out-of-town area called Overtown

which even the local

mayor describes as edgy.

This road is where the middle

of the pitch could be.

And as you can imagine that

hasn't gone down well

with some community leaders,

who are concerned with things

like noise, traffic,

and the questionable economic

benefits.

I can't imagine how I'm going to be

able to get in and out

of our neighbourhood when 25,000

soccer fans are swarming the site

on a weekday evening.

$250 million to build

a stadium, and all you get

is 50 jobs out of it?

That maths doesn't work.

It didn't work for the last MLS team

here, Miami Fusion folded

after just four season,

but a lot has changed since then.

Miami has a large Hispanic community

and football is a huge

part of its culture.

We love soccer here

and anything to generate,

just for the city itself,

make us more popular

than we already are, is great.

We're hoping that the name

of Beckham will have a lot of people

wanting to play for this team.

I've got a wealth of experience

from playing with different clubs

in different cities around the world

so that's where I can obviously

add my expertise in today's

ownership group and that

will be my role, to bring

great talented players.

But that will require cash.

Alexis Sanchez, for example,

is on a reported £500,000 a week.

But Manchester United's

former number seven says

players deserve it.

The money in the game is incredible.

I'm not going to turn around

and say, this player

shouldn't be paid that,

because I believe if you've

done well in the game,

you deserve whatever you get.

MLS has designs on becoming

a major global player.

Their newest owner knows

plenty about that.

Natalie Pirks, BBC News, Miami.

Just getting some news coming from

Dublin from the office that the

Taoiseach has announced a referendum

on the emotive issue on the section

of the Constitution which enshrines

its restrictive abortion laws and

the referendum I am told will be

held at the end of May. That is the

announcement by the Taoiseach in the

last few minutes. There will be more

on that and the BBC News Channel.

Newsnight on BBC Two, here is Emily.

Tonight a £4 billion U-turn by the

government of disability benefits,

as it accepted it acted unlawfully?

We talked to those who have had

their