03/08/2016 Victoria Derbyshire


03/08/2016

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Our top story, plans have been unveiled that should lead to a cut

:00:08.:00:15.

That's after Ofgem accepted a series of reforms. We will bring you the

:00:16.:00:28.

details. Also today, as MPs tell local

:00:29.:00:31.

authorities that not enough is being done to settle Syrian

:00:32.:00:34.

refugees in this country the head of the Local Government Association

:00:35.:00:37.

tells this programme they are on target and places

:00:38.:00:38.

are ready and waiting. And later, we'll be

:00:39.:00:43.

hearing Adrienne's story. She is a transgender woman living

:00:44.:00:45.

in Belfast where same sex marriage is still not legal and she tells us

:00:46.:00:48.

about how the community reacted I didn't really think that I would

:00:49.:01:03.

ever find an acceptance in a Christian church that was able to

:01:04.:01:09.

worlds that coexisted, but existed together and being here and being

:01:10.:01:15.

who I am, you know, it made it so much more real to worship as a

:01:16.:01:20.

person I was always meant to be. Lots coming up we are going to take

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a look at how you can save money on your energy bills as the body

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in charge of the big suppliers says more will be done to help people

:01:37.:01:40.

switch more easily and pre-paid meters will have

:01:41.:01:43.

a limit set on them. Get in touch with your experience

:01:44.:01:45.

of trying to find the best deals Do get in touch on all the stories

:01:46.:01:48.

we're talking about this morning - use the hashtag Victoria Live

:01:49.:01:52.

and if you text, you will be charged Lower energy prices

:01:53.:01:55.

could be on the way The gas and electricity regulator,

:01:56.:01:59.

Ofgem, says it's going to introduce a cap on prices charged

:02:00.:02:05.

by pre-payment meters, which are used by around

:02:06.:02:07.

four million people. Ofgem says the cap will help

:02:08.:02:12.

the most vulnerable and customers least likely

:02:13.:02:15.

to switch suppliers. It's expected to save them around

:02:16.:02:16.

?75 a year from next April. The announcement follows a report

:02:17.:02:19.

published by the Competition and Markets Authority in June

:02:20.:02:21.

which set out ways in Critics say it doesn't go far

:02:22.:02:24.

enough but Dermot Nolan, the Chief Executive of Ofgem,

:02:25.:02:31.

says people will get a better deal. I think it will be an improvement

:02:32.:02:40.

for consumers and I think it will also deliver for them in a way that

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it hasn't done before. I think there is a number of quite important

:02:45.:02:49.

changes. One I would say is the recommendation that pre-payment

:02:50.:02:51.

customers, about four million people in the UK are on pre-payment meters.

:02:52.:02:54.

In the last few years they haven't been getting a great deal and we're

:02:55.:02:58.

going to be introducing a clear protection for them which will save

:02:59.:03:03.

them ?70 or ?80 a yearment that's important because electricity is an

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essential service and the vulnerable really need to be protected so I

:03:08.:03:10.

think it will be a better deal for them. I also think that by

:03:11.:03:14.

encouraging people to be able to switch, by making switching easier,

:03:15.:03:17.

by giving people far more information and empowering them, it

:03:18.:03:21.

will over time make things better. It will drive down prices and you

:03:22.:03:25.

will have a more empowered consumer making better choices and getting a

:03:26.:03:26.

better deal. Our business correspondent

:03:27.:03:29.

Theo Leggett is here. What are the most important

:03:30.:03:37.

proposals and what's been left out? There has been criticism that things

:03:38.:03:41.

have been missed? Well, the most change clearly is the move to

:03:42.:03:46.

introduce a cap on the prices paid by people on pre-payment meters.

:03:47.:03:50.

These are the poorest customers and the ones who find it harder to move

:03:51.:03:54.

around. The cap will be introduced which should save them between ?70

:03:55.:04:02.

and ?80. That will stay in place until 2020 when smart meters will be

:04:03.:04:06.

introduced. As far as things that have been left out are concerned,

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well there is no move to cap standard variable tariffs, the ones

:04:11.:04:15.

which you go on to in you don't bother shopping around and if your

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discounted deal comes to an end. Some people wanted more action on

:04:21.:04:23.

that and there is controversy around the way to the way price comparison

:04:24.:04:27.

websites show deals, whether or not they are able to exclude deals,

:04:28.:04:29.

where they are not paid commission for example. There is a lot of chat

:04:30.:04:33.

about that at the moment and so far, all that Ofgem is doing is

:04:34.:04:39.

consulting on it. Will much change for the average customer, the bulk

:04:40.:04:43.

of customers who are with the big six on standard variable customers?

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Not unless they decide to shop around for themselves. Ofgem, says

:04:51.:04:56.

it will take more action to get disengaged customers to start

:04:57.:05:01.

looking around for deals. If you are to take notice of the deal, you have

:05:02.:05:05.

to be reading your bill in the first place, if you're not shopping

:05:06.:05:08.

around, that suggests you are not paying as much acontinuation.

:05:09.:05:11.

Two-thirds of customers don't shap around and they could be saving up

:05:12.:05:15.

to ?300 a year according to Ofgem. OK, we will be talking more about

:05:16.:05:18.

that later. Let us know your thoughts and

:05:19.:05:22.

experiences on that. We will bring you thoughts into the conversation a

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little later if we can. Julian is in the BBC

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Newsroom with a summary Britain's border force has

:05:27.:05:28.

a "worryingly low" number of boats MPs on the Commons Home Affairs

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Committee say just three boats are available to patrol 7,000

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miles of shoreline. It's calling for the Royal Navy

:05:47.:05:48.

to be brought in to support Our correspondent

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Angus Crawford reports. Out of the dark, a lone boat,

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adrift and in trouble. As rescuers close in,

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it is clear the The group bypassed security

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in France hoping to slip The Home Affairs Committee

:06:00.:06:05.

warns more criminal gangs are doing the same,

:06:06.:06:17.

exploiting inadequate policing at smaller ports

:06:18.:06:19.

to smuggle people into the UK. It's the job of UK Border Force

:06:20.:06:21.

vessels to stop them, but the report says only three

:06:22.:06:24.

are available to patrol Britain's This one, Protector,

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the biggest and most modern, is currently on duty

:06:28.:06:30.

in the Mediterranean. I'm afraid, as an island nation,

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there are weaknesses in our border security and we need

:06:38.:06:40.

additional vessels used. There are Royal Naval vessels that

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are not being used at the moment which should be deployed to deal

:06:43.:06:45.

with people traffickers. The Home Office says it already

:06:46.:06:52.

works with the Royal Navy, uses radar and aerial surveillance

:06:53.:06:56.

and has ordered eight new vessels. All part of a constant struggle

:06:57.:06:59.

to stop smuggling and save lives. A report by MPs into

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the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the UK says not enough

:07:18.:07:19.

is being done by local authorities to reach the goal of resettling

:07:20.:07:22.

20,000 Syrians by 2020. It said the UK Vulnerable Persons

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Resettlement Scheme started well with co-operation between local

:07:28.:07:34.

authorities, the government and the agencies involved but that

:07:35.:07:38.

a two-tier system was emerging with some providing

:07:39.:07:40.

support to Syrian refugees A police officer in Pakistan

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in charge of an investigation the death of a woman from Bradford

:07:43.:07:48.

has confirmed she was strangled. Samia Shahid, who was 28,

:07:49.:07:51.

died last month while visiting Her husband says she was the victim

:07:52.:07:54.

of a so-called honour killing, an allegation denied

:07:55.:08:04.

by her relatives in Pakistan. Profits at Britain's biggest bank,

:08:05.:08:11.

HSBC, have fallen sharply. In the first six months of this year

:08:12.:08:13.

they were down by 29% compared to the same period last year - at

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?7.2 billion. The bank said there had been

:08:26.:08:27.

"exceptional volatility" because of concern about China's

:08:28.:08:29.

economy and Britain's There will be more armed police

:08:30.:08:31.

officers patrolling the streets of London from today,

:08:32.:08:35.

in response to recent attacks The move has been announced

:08:36.:08:37.

by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police,

:08:38.:08:40.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, They say the aim is to reassure

:08:41.:08:41.

the public and deter attackers. We already know that the threat

:08:42.:08:46.

level is severe so we know that We have no intelligence

:08:47.:08:49.

there will be an attack shortly, but what we do know is what we have

:08:50.:08:54.

seen attacks in Germany and we have seen attacks in France and Belgium

:08:55.:08:57.

and I think we would be foolish to ignore that

:08:58.:09:00.

so it is important we get officers out there with firearms

:09:01.:09:03.

to respond where necessary. A British man has been killed

:09:04.:09:10.

while fighting with Kurdish forces against so-called Islamic State

:09:11.:09:13.

militants in Syria. Kurdish reports say 22-year-old Dean

:09:14.:09:15.

Carl Evans died last month. His father, John, has

:09:16.:09:17.

confirmed the death. He is the second British man to die

:09:18.:09:23.

while fighting as a volunteer A tribute to Dean Evans was posted

:09:24.:09:26.

to one of the websites It also showed some

:09:27.:09:33.

recent video of him. According to friends,

:09:34.:09:37.

he was on the frontline behind a wall when he was

:09:38.:09:41.

hit by an IS bullet. A female Kurdish fighter who tried

:09:42.:09:43.

to save him was also killed when a rocket-propelled grenade

:09:44.:09:46.

hit them both. On Facebook, John Evans

:09:47.:09:51.

confirmed his son's death. He posted a photo of him

:09:52.:09:53.

when he was a teenager and said he would be loved and missed

:09:54.:09:57.

by all his family and friends. Dean Evans was killed in fierce

:09:58.:10:03.

fighting around the town of Manbij. It's said to be a key staging post

:10:04.:10:06.

on the road to Raqqa, The Foreign Office wasn't able

:10:07.:10:09.

to confirm his death and advises against all travel to Syria

:10:10.:10:15.

for whatever reason. Last year, another

:10:16.:10:19.

Briton, Erik Scurfield, The former Royal Marine

:10:20.:10:22.

from Barnsley was given full military honours when the Kurdish

:10:23.:10:27.

forces handed over his Dean Evans is said to have left

:10:28.:10:29.

a will saying he wanted to be buried in the Kurdish part of Syria,

:10:30.:10:35.

next to the people he called his A legal ruling is expected later

:10:36.:10:39.

today in the case of a British woman who claims she is being held

:10:40.:10:54.

against her will in Saudi Arabia. 21-year-old Amina Al-Jeffery has

:10:55.:10:58.

dual British and Saudi citizenship, She says her father has imprisoned

:10:59.:11:02.

her at his home in Jeddah. A British High Court judge has been

:11:03.:11:12.

considering whether he can call for her return,

:11:13.:11:14.

but any ruling is likely to have limited power outside of the UK,

:11:15.:11:17.

with the Saudi government Two leopards have been born at twi

:11:18.:11:36.

cross Zoo. These CCTV pictures are the first glimpse of the cubs. They

:11:37.:11:42.

are the second pair born to mum and dad. The zoo says the new arrivals

:11:43.:11:48.

will help ensure the long-term survival of the species.

:11:49.:11:52.

That's a summary of the latest BBC News.

:11:53.:11:53.

They were scrummy, weren't they? We will look at how you can save

:11:54.:12:07.

money on your energy bills as the body in charge of the big suppliers

:12:08.:12:11.

says more will be done to help people switch easily and pre-payment

:12:12.:12:14.

meters will have a limit set on them. Get in touch on your

:12:15.:12:19.

experience about trying to find the best deals. We will hear from a

:12:20.:12:28.

trans woman living in Belfast. She will tell us how the community

:12:29.:12:31.

reacted to her sexuality. Do get in touch with us

:12:32.:12:33.

throughout the morning - use the hashtag Victoria LIVE

:12:34.:12:35.

and If you text, you will be charged With three days to go

:12:36.:12:38.

until the start of the Olympics in Rio, today we will discover

:12:39.:12:49.

the sports that will be added to the program

:12:50.:12:51.

in Tokyo in four years time. With golf and Rugby Union added to

:12:52.:12:54.

the schedule this year. Today the International

:12:55.:12:59.

Olympic Committee is expected to announce that

:13:00.:13:00.

Sports Climbing will be an event Which means we can expect to see

:13:01.:13:03.

Shauna Coxsey compete. She is with me now. Thank you very

:13:04.:13:12.

much for joining us. This would be pretty cool, wouldn't it, if you got

:13:13.:13:16.

to compete at the Olympics? Yeah, it is something I never expected to see

:13:17.:13:19.

in my professional career as a climber. Yeah, it is a bit

:13:20.:13:25.

overwhelming considering climbing being in the Olympics, but it is an

:13:26.:13:29.

exciting and historical day. Your specialism is bowledering? That's

:13:30.:13:34.

correct. That's one of three events that you would have to take part in?

:13:35.:13:39.

I specialise in bouldering and it is three events that have been selected

:13:40.:13:43.

and it is one medal for the overall. Yeah, it is a little bit like asking

:13:44.:13:48.

Usain Bolt to do his 100 meter race and run the 800 meters and a

:13:49.:13:52.

marathon on top of that. It is complicated. One of the events is

:13:53.:13:56.

speed climbing? It is speed climbing, yes. It is very different

:13:57.:14:00.

to bowlering. Tell us about bouldering? It is a discipline of

:14:01.:14:05.

climbing and you go not too high above the ground, above mats with no

:14:06.:14:11.

ropes. It is a free sport. Speed climbing is as fast as k get up a

:14:12.:14:15.

wall and there is league climbing you clip your rope in as you climb

:14:16.:14:19.

up and it is a much more endurance based sport. You won a World Cup

:14:20.:14:24.

event this year which means you're world number one in your sport,

:14:25.:14:28.

aren't you? Yes, I'm world number. I won that title which is really

:14:29.:14:32.

exciting and I have been competing for a while and you can see the

:14:33.:14:36.

footage from one of the World Cups which was in Austria. On top of

:14:37.:14:41.

that, it would be a few, speed climbing and league climbing as

:14:42.:14:44.

well. Speed climbing looks great to watch, having seen the pictures this

:14:45.:14:49.

morning, it looks exciting. It would make for a great sport and spectacle

:14:50.:14:54.

at the Olympics, but how difficult is that to turny answerings and em--

:14:55.:15:03.

ayour attention and improve? It is up to my coach to work out! That's

:15:04.:15:11.

his job. I'll do what I'm told. Have you been practising in anticipation

:15:12.:15:14.

of the sport being included in the Olympics? Not currently. I was a

:15:15.:15:19.

lead climber previously, transferring back to that discipline

:15:20.:15:22.

wouldn't be too difficult and I'm excited about that, but the speed

:15:23.:15:25.

climbing is alien to me, so it will be a challenge. I'm excited about

:15:26.:15:30.

the challenge and I think with the announcement coming later today, I

:15:31.:15:33.

think it will change the way our sport works right now and it is

:15:34.:15:36.

really exciting and yeah, we don't know how it will work, but it is a

:15:37.:15:38.

big step for our sport. Why is it set to be included, when

:15:39.:15:48.

the announcement comes, we know that rock climbing is certainly one of

:15:49.:15:53.

the UK's fastest-growing sports. Correct, it is a wheelie accessible

:15:54.:15:56.

sport and a natural sport to do, as kids we want to climb trees and jump

:15:57.:16:02.

around a climbing frame. It is something that feels natural to do

:16:03.:16:05.

and it is so much fun, as an adult going back to it, you see people

:16:06.:16:10.

doing it, it is as though you get to climb on things again, nobody will

:16:11.:16:15.

tell you. Was it a love of climbing, when we were growing up. I began

:16:16.:16:19.

climbing when I was four years old, nearly 20 years ago, it was

:16:20.:16:24.

something that was so natural to me, I fell in love with it immediately,

:16:25.:16:27.

I was really fortunate to have a supportive father who was keen to

:16:28.:16:31.

take me climbing, it is something that was really natural to me and

:16:32.:16:33.

something I fell in love with immediately. You could be competing

:16:34.:16:42.

in the Olympics in four years' time. Crazy to think about, excellent.

:16:43.:16:47.

Thank you very much for joining us. We await the announcement later on

:16:48.:16:53.

the inclusion of rock climbing in the Olympics in Tokyo in for you is

:16:54.:16:56.

time, we will be keeping an eye on that today, and, as we know, not

:16:57.:17:02.

long until the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, just three

:17:03.:17:05.

days away, that's the moment is all of the sport and we will have more

:17:06.:17:10.

in 15 time. Ain't very much see you then.

:17:11.:17:14.

Are the UK's borders up to the job of fighting the huge and growing

:17:15.:17:17.

A group of MPs this morning says they're NOT.

:17:18.:17:20.

The Home Affairs committee says smaller ports are being

:17:21.:17:23.

exploited by criminal gangs, and the Border Force simply doesn't

:17:24.:17:25.

The number of vessels patrolling the seas around Britain is,

:17:26.:17:29.

We have three border boats, for seven and a half thousand miles

:17:30.:17:33.

compared to Italy's 600 vessels, for 4,5000 miles.

:17:34.:17:42.

a former Director General of the UK Border Force.

:17:43.:17:50.

Comparing statistics, it seems woeful, why does Britain have so few

:17:51.:17:56.

patrol boat? You need to understand the nature of the threat, places

:17:57.:18:00.

like Italy face huge volumes of irregular migrants coming across the

:18:01.:18:04.

Mediterranean Sea, that is not something we have seen in the UK

:18:05.:18:07.

until recently, it is a fairly recent change. What we have had to

:18:08.:18:12.

do is change the response mechanism, we actually have five cutters, we

:18:13.:18:16.

have one aerial reconnaissance aircraft. When I was there. One is

:18:17.:18:20.

in doc, one in the Mediterranean, so only three left. New threat of the

:18:21.:18:26.

smugglers trying new routes, usually illegal migrants come through Dover,

:18:27.:18:30.

in the backs of lorries, there has been a huge investment in Calais, it

:18:31.:18:34.

is made it harder for them to do that, they are trying new methods.

:18:35.:18:39.

We need new border surveillance to deal with the new threat. There are

:18:40.:18:43.

boats coming, but there will not come through until the end of next

:18:44.:18:46.

year, it will only be another eight, does the Royal Navy need to step in

:18:47.:18:51.

in the meantime? It is important that it is not just about the net

:18:52.:18:56.

red number of votes, it is a complicated structure, 16 different

:18:57.:18:58.

agencies involved in border protection, not just the border

:18:59.:19:03.

force. -- not just about the number of votes. -- boats. You have the

:19:04.:19:13.

National Crime Agency, various agencies, the Navy as well, we need

:19:14.:19:16.

to make sure they all work together under them for space of the national

:19:17.:19:21.

maritime intelligence centre, there is no good having an armada of votes

:19:22.:19:25.

out there if they do not known where to go or how to intercept. -- armada

:19:26.:19:33.

of boats. Is it clear what is the picture, family migrants are trying

:19:34.:19:39.

to come to this country on boats. How many are coming through? -- how

:19:40.:19:45.

many migrant. How do we know if someone comes in a legally, unless

:19:46.:19:49.

they come to our attention, the best answer is probably a silent intake,

:19:50.:19:53.

most asylum seekers come in a legally, that has crept up by 12% in

:19:54.:19:58.

the last year, there is evidence that there is more penetration

:19:59.:20:01.

through the border. You do not know if that is by sea or any other

:20:02.:20:05.

means. We only know how many we stopped at Calais, we know there has

:20:06.:20:09.

been significant investment in Calais, ?25 million, with the French

:20:10.:20:15.

fences, CCTV, makes it much harder for the smugglers to operate in what

:20:16.:20:18.

has always been the traditional route into the UK. They are trying

:20:19.:20:23.

other things, what we need to do is to adapt, so that we can tackle the

:20:24.:20:28.

changing threat. The MPs are warning that small ports are particularly

:20:29.:20:31.

vulnerable to people traffickers, and when you realise that smugglers

:20:32.:20:36.

can make ?100,000 per journey, for each boat, you can see that there is

:20:37.:20:41.

a huge incentive to find loopholes, and find those small ports, what is

:20:42.:20:45.

the best way to protect individual ports, I know what you are saying

:20:46.:20:49.

about a joined up approach to security, does it need to be the

:20:50.:20:52.

case that there is something of these there are, in terms of boats,

:20:53.:20:57.

or whatever it is that this sending out a signal in the way that Italy

:20:58.:21:02.

has done with a lot about. General maritime has always been a threat,

:21:03.:21:06.

small ports and coastal coverage, we do not have a border patrol in this

:21:07.:21:10.

country, responsible for trolling between the ports of entry, it is

:21:11.:21:14.

the same organisation that manages the ports as does the areas in

:21:15.:21:19.

between, it is like community releasing, we have had coast watch

:21:20.:21:25.

and we have had Project Kraken. Will rely upon Harbour Masters and the

:21:26.:21:31.

Coast Guard to rely upon -- notice things. When we begin to identify

:21:32.:21:37.

trends, then we can take a criminal gangs. How many boats are being

:21:38.:21:42.

intercepted? The actual numbers of interceptions is not recorded,

:21:43.:21:47.

because... Because there are different types of threat coming

:21:48.:21:52.

into the UK, the border Force cutters do not just deal with

:21:53.:21:54.

smuggling, they deal with environmental threats, things like

:21:55.:22:00.

fishing and environmental issues and so on, the cutters are being

:22:01.:22:05.

deployed on an intelligence led basis, to different operations, some

:22:06.:22:08.

of the operations are covert, that will be organised by the national

:22:09.:22:16.

crime agency, made be deployed by a larger organisation. Spread more

:22:17.:22:21.

thinly than just being about border patrols and people smuggling, does

:22:22.:22:23.

that send out a message that written is a soft touch, if you want to try

:22:24.:22:28.

to get a boat load of people in? Britain is not a soft touch, when I

:22:29.:22:34.

was head of border force, what a lot of people visited to see how we did

:22:35.:22:38.

things, of course we still have a border with Europe, most of Europe

:22:39.:22:41.

does not have won because of Shannon, and the external frontier

:22:42.:22:46.

is broken, with huge numbers coming across the Mediterranean, we have a

:22:47.:22:49.

change in threat but we should not put this out of perspective. --

:22:50.:22:53.

Schengen. It is a change and we are adapting to it, we just need to keep

:22:54.:22:54.

ahead of the smugglers. Did not long strongly critical of local

:22:55.:23:34.

authorities for not acting quickly enough in their resettlement plans

:23:35.:23:37.

for new arrivals. It is reported that many councils are refusing to

:23:38.:23:42.

house refugees because of high costs. Well it's not long since the

:23:43.:23:55.

British government was lambasted for reportedly taking in only 216

:23:56.:23:58.

refugees from Syria. Those numbers were well up by the beginning of

:23:59.:24:01.

July - as you'd expect - and we've now received eight thousand

:24:02.:24:03.

refugees. But MPs still say there's little sign that the UK will meet

:24:04.:24:05.

its goal of resettling 20-thousand Syrians by 2020. The same report

:24:06.:24:07.

we've just heard about, which is warning about border force problems,

:24:08.:24:10.

is also strongly critical of local authorities for not acting quickly

:24:11.:24:12.

enough in their resettlement plans for new arrivals. It's reported that

:24:13.:24:14.

many councils are refusing to house refugees due to high accommodation

:24:15.:24:16.

costs. I spoke to Councillor David Simmons, who heads up an asylum,

:24:17.:24:19.

migration and refugee task force for the Local Government Association.

:24:20.:24:19.

The figures used are out of date, after the official arrival of

:24:20.:24:23.

refugees, there would be a pause while they learn what could be done

:24:24.:24:25.

to improve logistics. During that period the local government

:24:26.:24:27.

Association and local councils have been coming forward with offers of

:24:28.:24:29.

accommodation as part of the programme for resettling 20,000

:24:30.:24:32.

Syrians and I am confident they are talking to councils around the

:24:33.:24:34.

country that those 20,000 targets will be met. -- that 20,000 target

:24:35.:24:37.

will be met. A survey has found that one in three councils have been

:24:38.:24:39.

fusing to take in refugees, is that still the picture? All councils are

:24:40.:24:42.

playing a part in bringing refugees to the UK, it depends upon

:24:43.:24:44.

whereabouts in the country, how many offers of houses they are able to

:24:45.:24:47.

make, and it also depends upon what other refugees they may already be

:24:48.:24:49.

looking after. The Syrian scheme is one small part of the picture, we

:24:50.:24:52.

also have a number of other government schemes for resettling

:24:53.:24:54.

destitute refugees and a 100 cent increase in the number of

:24:55.:24:55.

unaccompanied refugee children being looked after by councils across the

:24:56.:24:58.

UK. This survey which is being done and the Home Office side committee

:24:59.:25:01.

report is a small part of that picture. We need to be aware of

:25:02.:25:08.

wider context. Are some local authorities point blank refusing to

:25:09.:25:12.

take in refugees, in London, only 11 of 32 London boroughs had agreed to

:25:13.:25:18.

take 521 refugees. Across the total number of borrowers there. Other

:25:19.:25:25.

local authorities are also not and have not been taking... Is it right

:25:26.:25:29.

that any local authority should not take a single refugee under this new

:25:30.:25:34.

proposal? Local authorities, most local authorities will have some

:25:35.:25:37.

refugees and some will have large numbers which will not appear in the

:25:38.:25:40.

total because they have not been brought to the UK as part of this

:25:41.:25:44.

specific scheme which the survey on the report we are looking at, my own

:25:45.:25:49.

authority, Hillingdon, has more than 100 unaccompanied refugee children,

:25:50.:25:52.

because there is a very severe shortage of accommodation, its entry

:25:53.:25:55.

cannot be found within the funding that is being offered by the Home

:25:56.:25:59.

Office, we will not be taking significant numbers of adults and

:26:00.:26:03.

families but elsewhere in the country, different picture, there

:26:04.:26:06.

are parts that have few if any refugee children because they do not

:26:07.:26:10.

have the expertise in looking after them perhaps, but where

:26:11.:26:13.

accommodation can be more readily found, taking very significant

:26:14.:26:16.

numbers, that is why we will see a patchwork of offers based upon what

:26:17.:26:22.

local communities have the capacity to provide. What about it being the

:26:23.:26:26.

right thing to do, the deputy leader of Coventry City Council, which has

:26:27.:26:30.

been one of the most welcoming councils has said, " we have

:26:31.:26:36.

accepted refugees because it is the right thing to do, they say that is

:26:37.:26:43.

why they want to do it. There is a combination of factors which is

:26:44.:26:48.

always at work. Clearly no council wants to have to face is local

:26:49.:26:52.

community later on and say that the may have to close libraries and may

:26:53.:26:54.

be struggling for school places because this finance simply is not

:26:55.:27:02.

there. We need to balance local communities and we need to look at

:27:03.:27:05.

what we have the capacity to provide, parts of the country will

:27:06.:27:08.

be spending a good deal of money and providing a good deal of support to

:27:09.:27:11.

refugee children who may not be taking in families, they may be

:27:12.:27:15.

areas of the country which offer specific support to adults with

:27:16.:27:19.

disabilities or injuries as a result of what has happened with has led to

:27:20.:27:22.

them being refugees but may not be able to take young children, that is

:27:23.:27:26.

why it is so important in this game and that is why it is a cause for

:27:27.:27:30.

celebration that we have reached the target of 7000, although we could be

:27:31.:27:36.

significantly more if called upon to do so. It is inevitable that any

:27:37.:27:40.

council taking in refugees will cut costs on something else that they

:27:41.:27:44.

are spending money on as a result, when you look at the figures, the

:27:45.:27:49.

way that they break down, councils get ?8,500 for every refugee in the

:27:50.:27:52.

first year, ?1000 in the fifth year, councils say that covers only 80% of

:27:53.:27:58.

their costs, that is at the same time as local authority funding has

:27:59.:28:02.

been cut by one third. The pressures on council funding have been

:28:03.:28:06.

well-publicised, we know that all of the councils coming forward with

:28:07.:28:09.

offers of accommodation for refugees will need to make difficult

:28:10.:28:12.

decisions in order to make that happen but we also need to recognise

:28:13.:28:16.

that the circumstances of refugees vary a lot, in London, for example,

:28:17.:28:21.

large numbers of refugees who are either from their own resources

:28:22.:28:24.

paying for the accommodation or who are coming to the UK to stay with

:28:25.:28:28.

extended family members, at members of the community from which they

:28:29.:28:32.

come in the country that they fled. Not all refugees will be dependent

:28:33.:28:36.

upon the taxpayer, that is why it is very much a mixed picture around the

:28:37.:28:40.

country. How much scrutiny is there of a council when it says, we are

:28:41.:28:44.

not going to take in any refugees, this is voluntary and we do not have

:28:45.:28:48.

too. Enormous scrutiny but we need to make sure that is well-informed,

:28:49.:28:52.

it is no good simply looking at how money refugees a council may take

:28:53.:28:55.

the Syrian scheme, we need to look at whether the council is in a

:28:56.:29:00.

dispersal area, one of the Home Office's six compass contract,

:29:01.:29:04.

whether they have significant numbers of unaccompanied refugee

:29:05.:29:07.

children, we also need to consider how money people they may already be

:29:08.:29:12.

looking for housing for the Council in that local area, that is why it

:29:13.:29:16.

is best that it is done at a local level, because the council is in a

:29:17.:29:19.

position to know what is going on in the local community and look at what

:29:20.:29:22.

it has the capacity to provide without putting unfair pressure on

:29:23.:29:24.

other people who may also need help. We can speak with a Syrian refugee

:29:25.:29:34.

living in south London tried to get on his feet after a long and

:29:35.:29:38.

dangerous journey to the UK, in Coventry, I'm joined by Sabir Zazai,

:29:39.:29:44.

who is the Director of the Refugee and Migrant Centre there. He arrived

:29:45.:29:47.

in Britain from Afghanistan 17 years ago. And in Birmingham we have

:29:48.:29:57.

Louise Calvey. She travels the country as Head of Resettlement at

:29:58.:29:59.

charity Refugee Action helping Local Authorities support refugees. Thank

:30:00.:30:10.

you for joining us. Sabir, you are in Coventry and it has been

:30:11.:30:13.

described as the gold standard, where is the balance made between

:30:14.:30:16.

the needs of the local community against the needs of refugees? I

:30:17.:30:20.

think the most important thing that we have in Coventry is a strong

:30:21.:30:24.

goodwill within the public, mainly across the communities and the

:30:25.:30:32.

support of the Bishop of Coventry and faith organisations. But on top

:30:33.:30:36.

of that, Coventry has also got the resources and the infrastructure.

:30:37.:30:47.

Dispersed to this city and also in addition to this Coventry has a

:30:48.:30:58.

worldwide reputation as a city of peace and reconciliation and we were

:30:59.:31:01.

one of the first cities of sanctuary. So I think within the

:31:02.:31:07.

city, the leadership of the city takes those legacies of the city

:31:08.:31:10.

seriously and I think for that reason we have been able to work

:31:11.:31:16.

with local communities to galvanise and get their support behind us and

:31:17.:31:23.

Coventry has extended to Syrian refugees, but it has extended to

:31:24.:31:27.

people over many years fleeing conflicts across the world. What

:31:28.:31:34.

about balancing the pressures on local resources for the local

:31:35.:31:38.

community? We were hearing from the Local Government Association talking

:31:39.:31:40.

about the difficulties fore a council if it has to justify closing

:31:41.:31:46.

facilities like libraries or pressure on other budgets when

:31:47.:31:53.

refugees have been taken in? I wouldn't blame all of that

:31:54.:31:58.

pressure on refugees. We are resettling Syrian refugees at an

:31:59.:32:01.

economically difficult time. It was straight after the recession. The

:32:02.:32:05.

plans for closing libraries, the plans for closing children's

:32:06.:32:11.

centres, were there in place because of the austerity plans, but what we

:32:12.:32:18.

have is that we know that the Syrian programme comes with funding, but at

:32:19.:32:22.

the same time, we focus more on the issue of integrating and allowing

:32:23.:32:27.

these people to set up their lives and rebuild their lives in safety

:32:28.:32:33.

and dignity. Instead of focussing on those blame issues that we blame it

:32:34.:32:37.

on refugees, we support these refugees so that they can find jobs

:32:38.:32:41.

and they can be active members of our society and our city. At the end

:32:42.:32:46.

of the day everyone wants to rebuild their lives, everyone wants to have

:32:47.:32:51.

a job and a dignified income and our focus, the focus of our charity at

:32:52.:32:57.

Coventry and Migrant Centre and the migrants is we help these people

:32:58.:33:01.

earlier on so they have got jobs to help and support themselves and also

:33:02.:33:04.

make a contribution to the local economy.

:33:05.:33:09.

Louise, the local authorities have now offered up the 20,000 places in

:33:10.:33:14.

total. MPs were concerned that they weren't coming forward and there may

:33:15.:33:18.

not be enough places. Are you happy that the Local Government

:33:19.:33:20.

Association says that the places are on offer? Absolutely. That can only

:33:21.:33:26.

be good news. Particularly in the context of the 200 figure we were

:33:27.:33:29.

looking at in the summer of last year. In refugee Action's experience

:33:30.:33:35.

we are seeing local authorities and the Home Office working very much

:33:36.:33:38.

with communities, local communities to create a position of welcome for

:33:39.:33:42.

some of the most vulnerable people in society. That's a brilliant

:33:43.:33:48.

thing. That work has to continue. Refugee Action believes that 20,000

:33:49.:33:52.

is an achievable number in the UK. We need to be doing more. We need to

:33:53.:33:56.

find more routes to safety. We need to be bringing more vulnerable

:33:57.:34:00.

people into the UK so that they can form members of our society to

:34:01.:34:05.

contribute in the way that we know that they want to. Are you happy

:34:06.:34:08.

that all local authorities are pulling their weight? Because some

:34:09.:34:13.

are taking in higher numbers than others. But the Local Government

:34:14.:34:18.

Association says you need to look at the picture that isn't always clear

:34:19.:34:21.

when you look at the headline figures because obviously different

:34:22.:34:25.

pressures will be put in different areas depending on what has gone

:34:26.:34:29.

before, whether it is child refugees there or any other refugees? Yeah, I

:34:30.:34:34.

think there can be no doubt that pressures on Local Government at the

:34:35.:34:37.

moment are very high. There are a lot of vulnerable members of our

:34:38.:34:42.

communities and many of those are very keen to welcome refugees as

:34:43.:34:46.

well. In our experience, local authorities are working hard to find

:34:47.:34:50.

solutions to some of those problems. And working hard with the

:34:51.:34:57.

communities around them. One of the overwhelming positively things

:34:58.:34:59.

that's happened over the last few months is that position of welcome

:35:00.:35:02.

from local communities, from all different types of communities

:35:03.:35:06.

whether it be, you know, rural chocolate-box Middle England all the

:35:07.:35:11.

way through to urban areas, communities wanting to come together

:35:12.:35:14.

to welcome Syrians and vulnerable members of our society and local

:35:15.:35:17.

authorities have really been alive to that in our experience have been

:35:18.:35:23.

trying to find solutions to come to a position of welcome. Kamal you

:35:24.:35:35.

came as a refugee from Syria. Have you felt welcomed here? Yeah, I

:35:36.:35:41.

think, most people they welcomed me. Most people I met, they welcomed me.

:35:42.:35:47.

Have you had any issues? Some issues about the accommodation, about when

:35:48.:35:51.

I moved from Stockton-on-Tees to London, I found it difficult to find

:35:52.:36:01.

a job and found accommodation and to rent a house, but we welcomed me

:36:02.:36:06.

when I found Homeless For Syria, it is a website. They helped me to get

:36:07.:36:15.

accommodation and now I live with an English family and I am part of this

:36:16.:36:21.

family. I'm happy to be there. They helped me to find work and to update

:36:22.:36:29.

my CV, to do a lot of things, to contact other people. Are they a

:36:30.:36:34.

family that offered themselves in a charitable gesture and you don't pay

:36:35.:36:43.

rent? Because when I moved from Stockton-on-Tees to London, I live

:36:44.:36:49.

in the room with people I don't know. They used drugs. They drank

:36:50.:36:55.

alcohol all the time. I can't stay with them. One day we make some high

:36:56.:37:03.

sounds and shouting and they kicked me out. So I went to the coffee shop

:37:04.:37:18.

and I tried find somebody to particular me in, I tried to search

:37:19.:37:24.

on the web to find a new solution for me. So I wpt on the internet and

:37:25.:37:33.

I found Homeless For Syria and I e-mailed them and they helped me to

:37:34.:37:39.

find a family to guest me. Thank you for coming in and talking

:37:40.:37:44.

to us. A couple of e-mails from you. Sydney e-mailed, "I am ashamed at

:37:45.:37:48.

the lack of help we are giving to refugees. We demeanour respect and

:37:49.:37:54.

ourselves with our callous attitude." Malcolm e-mailed, "It is

:37:55.:37:59.

all very well having boats intercepting people smuggling small

:38:00.:38:01.

boats in the channel, but what happens? These people are brought to

:38:02.:38:05.

this country, so these poor migrants have succeeded anyway." The Home

:38:06.:38:11.

Office have issued a statement saying, "Our priority to offer

:38:12.:38:15.

humanitarian support to those most in need while maintaining the

:38:16.:38:18.

security of our borders. Refuge has been provided for more than 1800

:38:19.:38:23.

Syrians under the scheme while the Government is on track to deliver

:38:24.:38:26.

its pledge to resettle 20,000 by the end of the Parliament. We have made

:38:27.:38:30.

clear our commitment to bringing very vulnerable children from

:38:31.:38:31.

Europe. Still to come, we'll be hearing

:38:32.:38:40.

from a transgender woman in Belfast about her life in a community

:38:41.:38:42.

where sexual identity, And as events are cancelled

:38:43.:38:44.

across France this summer because of the security threat,

:38:45.:38:48.

we look at what you need to know if you're heading

:38:49.:38:50.

to Europe on holiday. Here's Julian in the BBC Newsroom

:38:51.:38:59.

with a summary of today's news. The gas and electricity regulator,

:39:00.:39:04.

Ofgem, has endorsed a series of proposals designed to cut

:39:05.:39:09.

customers' energy bills in England, Wales and Scotland,

:39:10.:39:12.

calling them a "watershed The proposals including a price cap

:39:13.:39:14.

for prepayment meters were put forward in June by another

:39:15.:39:18.

regulator, the Competition A number of quite important changes.

:39:19.:39:34.

One I would say is the recommendation of pre-payment

:39:35.:39:36.

customers. About four million people in the UK are on pre-payment meters.

:39:37.:39:40.

In the last few years they haven't been getting a great deal and we

:39:41.:39:44.

will be introducing a very clear protection for them which will save

:39:45.:39:51.

them ?70, ?80 a year. Electricity is an essential service and the

:39:52.:39:54.

vulnerable really need to be protected.

:39:55.:40:00.

A police officer in Pakistan in charge of an investigation

:40:01.:40:01.

into the death of a woman from Bradford has confirmed

:40:02.:40:04.

Samia Shahid, who was 28, died last month while visiting

:40:05.:40:07.

Her husband says she was the victim of a so-called honour killing,

:40:08.:40:11.

an allegation denied by her relatives in Pakistan.

:40:12.:40:15.

Profits at HSBC have fallen sharply. In the first six months of this

:40:16.:40:21.

year, they were down by 29%, compared to the same period last

:40:22.:40:26.

year. That's at ?7.2 billion. The bank said there had been exceptional

:40:27.:40:31.

volatility because of concern about China's economy and Britain's

:40:32.:40:32.

decision to leave the EU. There will be more armed police

:40:33.:40:35.

officers patrolling the streets of London from today,

:40:36.:40:37.

in response to recent attacks The move has been announced

:40:38.:40:39.

by the commissioner of the Metropolitan police,

:40:40.:40:43.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, They say the aim is to reassure

:40:44.:40:44.

the public and deter attackers. Two Amur leopards -

:40:45.:40:53.

believed to be the world's rarest big cat have been born

:40:54.:40:56.

at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire. There are only about 70

:40:57.:40:58.

of the leopards left in the wild. Theses CCTV pictures are the first

:40:59.:41:03.

glimpse of the cubs. They're the second pair born to mum

:41:04.:41:10.

Kristen and dad Davidoff. That's a summary of

:41:11.:41:16.

the latest BBC News. Here's the latest

:41:17.:41:18.

sport now with John. After missing three drugs tests

:41:19.:41:29.

which could have forced Cyclist Lizzie Armitstead to be

:41:30.:41:32.

banned from the Rio Olympics, the silver medallist

:41:33.:41:34.

from London 2012 has admitted she that she was naive in not

:41:35.:41:36.

challenging the first of those until her Olympic place was

:41:37.:41:40.

in jeapordy. It was only

:41:41.:41:42.

after missing a third test and facing a possible two year

:41:43.:41:44.

suspension, she took her case to the court of arbitration

:41:45.:41:46.

for sport and her first failure UK Anti-Doping, while happy

:41:47.:41:49.

with the process, feels there needs to be more explanation

:41:50.:41:53.

as to why it was not upheld. Cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins has said

:41:54.:41:57.

the honour of being flag bearer at the opening ceremony

:41:58.:42:00.

of the Rio Olympics should Wiggins featured in the opening

:42:01.:42:02.

of the Games at London 2012. Boxer Nicola Adams, long-distance

:42:03.:42:07.

runner Jo Pavey and tennis player Andy Murray are among

:42:08.:42:10.

the contenders with a decision And Steven Finn is back

:42:11.:42:12.

in the England side to face Pakistan He replaces the injured

:42:13.:42:19.

all rounder Ben Stokes. With the series level at 1-1,

:42:20.:42:27.

with two tests left to play. This weekend is the annual gay

:42:28.:42:36.

pride march in Belfast Same-sex marriage is

:42:37.:42:38.

still illegal there. Last night the Scottish Conservative

:42:39.:42:45.

leader Ruth Davison called on Northern Ireland to follow

:42:46.:42:47.

the example of the rest of the UK So what are the challenges that face

:42:48.:42:50.

lesbian, gay and transgender people living in Northern Ireland

:42:51.:42:54.

where sexual identity and politics Our reporter Peter Coulter has been

:42:55.:42:57.

to meet a transgender You will legislate

:42:58.:43:00.

perversion and immorality. A murderer can be redeemed

:43:01.:43:11.

by the blood of Christ, Homosexuality was decriminalised

:43:12.:43:13.

in Northern Ireland in 1982, A ban on gay men donating blood

:43:14.:43:30.

was lifted this year, Same-sex marriage is still not legal

:43:31.:43:38.

in Northern Ireland. Legislation has been blocked five

:43:39.:43:45.

times by the country's biggest political party, the

:43:46.:43:50.

Democratic Unionist Party. Northern Ireland has come a long way

:43:51.:43:52.

over the past few decades in terms of the peace process,

:43:53.:43:56.

but now it's facing up As time moves on, the country begins

:43:57.:43:58.

to adapt to social changes and the more liberal leanings

:43:59.:44:05.

of its young people, but where does the LGBT community

:44:06.:44:07.

fit into this new piece time I'm Adrianne Elson

:44:08.:44:10.

and I'm a transgender I grew up on the Merseyside

:44:11.:44:28.

and Cheshire border roughly halfway Certainly my primary school was very

:44:29.:44:33.

conservative and I suppose that's where I learned

:44:34.:44:38.

to suppress my feelings a lot. At what point did you realise

:44:39.:44:44.

that you were different? Sort of pre-school age but I had

:44:45.:44:51.

no way to vocalise it. So what was it like for

:44:52.:44:55.

you growing up in Merseyside? It was very northern,

:44:56.:44:58.

if you can say such a thing. Men were expected to be men

:44:59.:45:01.

and women were expected to be women and the gender roles were much more

:45:02.:45:04.

enforced than they are now. After years of struggling

:45:05.:45:08.

with her gender identity, Adrianne decided to move to Northern

:45:09.:45:11.

Ireland. I got myself involved in evangelical

:45:12.:45:14.

Christianity and I just thought that would be a way of purging

:45:15.:45:21.

my feelings from me. The way I was thinking about it,

:45:22.:45:23.

the theory was the plant analogy, that if you don't water

:45:24.:45:36.

plant, it will die. So if you don't give

:45:37.:45:42.

the transgenderism any thought, nature abhors a vacuum

:45:43.:45:46.

so if you are out doing lots of things from dawn till dusk,

:45:47.:45:49.

you never get a chance to dwell Adrianne joined the prominent

:45:50.:45:52.

Protestant leader, the Reverend Ian Paisley's church

:45:53.:46:02.

and his Save Ulster From Sodomy movement, and she joined

:46:03.:46:05.

the Unionist Orange Order. She also picked up manual work as

:46:06.:46:07.

a depot operative on the railways. She hoped that by filling

:46:08.:46:13.

her time with religion, protesting against Belfast's gay

:46:14.:46:17.

pride parade in 2005. I was actually on a protest

:46:18.:46:30.

about gay pride at City Hall and that was where my road

:46:31.:46:33.

to Damascus conversion came because there was a LGBT protest

:46:34.:46:36.

against our protest and I made, momentarily, fleetingly made eye

:46:37.:46:38.

contact with a young man And I just thought, what am

:46:39.:46:40.

I doing here? That's not the devil incarnate,

:46:41.:46:44.

that's not a demon, It was after this incident that

:46:45.:46:47.

Adrianne decided that she would I was so unhappy pretending to be

:46:48.:47:08.

someone I wasn't. I felt like I was an actress playing

:47:09.:47:12.

a male role, a part. Although I had actually come

:47:13.:47:15.

to like the person I was playing, it was still, you know,

:47:16.:47:18.

acting, it was still falsehood. Adrianne began to transition

:47:19.:47:27.

about four years ago. Religion is still extremely

:47:28.:47:35.

important to her and she remains Sometimes I feel marginalised

:47:36.:47:37.

in the sense that I don't feel as though I entirely belong

:47:38.:47:48.

in the LGBT community because of my history and some

:47:49.:47:50.

of my political beliefs or whatever may not be in concert,

:47:51.:47:53.

in tune with that which is widely And conversely, I no longer feel

:47:54.:47:55.

part of the evangelical, sort of, you know, conservative,

:47:56.:48:22.

Protestant community because by very nature of what I'm doing,

:48:23.:48:24.

that excludes me from Adrianne has since found love

:48:25.:48:27.

and has married her partner He has been the victim of a number

:48:28.:48:30.

of trans-phobic attacks and has asked not to be identified in this

:48:31.:48:36.

film for fears of increased abuse. I brought you outside here to show

:48:37.:48:42.

you this church which is a special place for me because this

:48:43.:48:46.

is where I got married in the non-subscribing

:48:47.:48:48.

Presbyterian Church. You have obviously joined

:48:49.:48:53.

this church. You've become a member

:48:54.:48:56.

of the community there. It is really massively important

:48:57.:48:59.

because I didn't really think I would ever find an acceptance

:49:00.:49:05.

in a Christian church. It was like two worlds that

:49:06.:49:10.

coexisted but could not exist together and then

:49:11.:49:13.

being here and being who I am, it has made it so much more real

:49:14.:49:15.

so that I can worship as the person And what's it's like for you walking

:49:16.:49:19.

down the street in Belfast? It has got somewhat easier

:49:20.:49:29.

but it is a little bit like having your fight or flight

:49:30.:49:32.

response switched on. You always wonder if people

:49:33.:49:34.

are checking you out, sizing you up. You walk around and things you may

:49:35.:49:37.

have taken for granted in the past, like some teenagers loitering

:49:38.:49:40.

on a street corner, you will cross the road to avoid them

:49:41.:49:43.

where is maybe in the past Have you or your partner ever

:49:44.:49:46.

encountered any trans-phobic abuse? It seems to be less but certainly

:49:47.:49:55.

the awareness has become a lot more Anything that stands out,

:49:56.:49:59.

anything that makes you different from the crowd will draw attention

:50:00.:50:03.

to you and people will look and do a double-take and then the adverse

:50:04.:50:06.

comments and the catcalls And at times it can be

:50:07.:50:08.

extremely hurtful, some very, very vulgar and nasty

:50:09.:50:12.

and threatening things can be said. And what sort of things have

:50:13.:50:22.

they been saying? Sexual things and threatening

:50:23.:50:25.

things, very, very hurtful things. or, you know, that you want raping

:50:26.:50:38.

and things like that. There has been a lot more trans

:50:39.:50:46.

awareness over the last few years. Do you see the likes

:50:47.:50:49.

of Caitlyn Jenner having raised Yeah, absolutely, I don't know

:50:50.:50:51.

if Caitlyn Jenner is necessarily a good example

:50:52.:50:55.

of a transgender advocate. The celebrity transgender people

:50:56.:50:57.

who can afford to queue-jump, who can afford to get surgery

:50:58.:50:59.

and transition when they want, it's very different to the experiences

:51:00.:51:02.

of maybe someone living in a bedsit in Belfast, vastly

:51:03.:51:05.

different experiences. Adrianne wanted to take me back

:51:06.:51:13.

to show me another part The Orange Order is a Protestant

:51:14.:51:16.

society founded in 1795 to uphold Protestant power in Northern

:51:17.:51:22.

Ireland. It takes its name from

:51:23.:51:25.

the Dutch-born Protestant king, Its members wear orange sashes

:51:26.:51:27.

and are referred to as Orangemen. They parade each year on the 12th

:51:28.:51:36.

of July, marking the date King William defeated the army

:51:37.:51:39.

of Catholic King James II The 12th of July is one

:51:40.:51:42.

of the biggest cultural events in Northern Ireland and thousands

:51:43.:51:48.

of Orangemen like this take For many of Northern

:51:49.:51:51.

Ireland's Catholics, these marches are divisive,

:51:52.:52:08.

with some traditional parade routes passing through staunchly

:52:09.:52:10.

Catholic areas. Most Orange Order parades pass off

:52:11.:52:19.

peacefully but the rest of the world has often only seen the images

:52:20.:52:22.

of those that don't. Adrianne took me to see

:52:23.:52:24.

the Belfast parade. The emphasis is very much

:52:25.:52:37.

on the Christian side of it rather than the parading

:52:38.:52:40.

I felt, but... It was a strange thing for someone

:52:41.:52:41.

of my background to do, who was brought up nominally

:52:42.:52:44.

Roman Catholic, it felt quite privileged to be accepted

:52:45.:52:47.

to be honest with you. How did the Orange Order react

:52:48.:52:53.

when you first told them They weren't sort of cross with me

:52:54.:52:56.

if you see what I mean, they tried to maybe dissuade me

:52:57.:53:07.

in a very gentle and Christian way Would you like to be asked to join

:53:08.:53:10.

the women's Lodge? Yes, I think so, I would like to be

:53:11.:53:18.

given the opportunity. Once again, I don't know if it

:53:19.:53:21.

would really ever be possible. Maybe in the future it would be

:53:22.:53:25.

nice if it was possible, maybe that is something

:53:26.:53:28.

for another generation. Do you think that the Orange Order

:53:29.:53:30.

could accept a transgender member? You have to challenge the status

:53:31.:53:44.

quo or preconceptions Some people would say yes,

:53:45.:53:48.

some people would say no but I'd like to think that it's something

:53:49.:53:54.

for the future, yes. So you've actually brought your

:53:55.:53:57.

Order collarette with you. Most people refer to them as sashes

:53:58.:53:59.

but sashes are for the And this is one you used to have

:54:00.:54:09.

when you used to be an Orangeman? Why do you think you kept it?

:54:10.:54:18.

I don't honestly know. It may be too big a step

:54:19.:54:23.

for the Orange Order to accept a transgender member

:54:24.:54:26.

but Northern Ireland is adapting. There are currently no openly gay

:54:27.:54:28.

politicians in the Northern However, the deputy mayor

:54:29.:54:31.

of Belfast, Mary Ellen Campbell, is the first openly gay person

:54:32.:54:34.

to hold a senior role in the city. Mary Ellen is on completely

:54:35.:54:38.

the opposite side of the political She is a member of Sinn Fein

:54:39.:54:41.

which is an Irish republican party. Mary Ellen invited Adrianne

:54:42.:54:45.

to meet her in a scene many from Northern Ireland would be

:54:46.:54:47.

surprised to see. An openly gay Irish republican

:54:48.:54:51.

Deputy Mayor hosting a transgender

:54:52.:54:55.

Unionist in Belfast City Hall. Years ago, you know,

:54:56.:55:04.

it would have been inconceivable What are your own thoughts about

:55:05.:55:27.

that? This council is run in this building from the 1960s, and I am

:55:28.:55:34.

the first LGBT person, to hold this offers. It would have been

:55:35.:55:39.

unthinkable even ten years ago. I am thankful for the people who elected

:55:40.:55:44.

me and for the people of my party, it is a big role for me, and for the

:55:45.:55:49.

community, for the LGBT community. What you think we need to do next?

:55:50.:55:57.

Winnie to be bringing in legislation on equality that is more in line

:55:58.:56:06.

with what is in GB and the Republic, within these islands, we are

:56:07.:56:10.

sticking out like a sore thumb. How we change the way that things are

:56:11.:56:14.

legislated, people come in and say, this is how I would like you to

:56:15.:56:18.

focus on the issue, this is important. There are people like

:56:19.:56:30.

yourself, who go through the hard battles. I really want to give you

:56:31.:56:36.

that commendation. Belfast is a very welcoming city for all visitors and

:56:37.:56:41.

for the people who live here. I think that if you are dealt to BT,

:56:42.:56:47.

Belfast is a good place to visit, we are a progressive city and open for

:56:48.:56:49.

business. We asked the orange order if

:56:50.:56:55.

transgender members would be allowed to join, in a statement they said

:56:56.:57:00.

that any application is treated on its own individual merits. The next

:57:01.:57:05.

half hour we will be speaking with a campaign for equal marriage, a

:57:06.:57:08.

transgender woman, and the Northern Ireland member of the Evangelical

:57:09.:57:13.

Alliance that opposes gay marriage. Breaking news, which we are getting

:57:14.:57:19.

on a couple of terrorism arrest, two have been arrested on relation of

:57:20.:57:28.

Syria related terror offences. Two men were arrested today in Coventry

:57:29.:57:32.

on suspicion of financing terrorism, West Midlands Counter-terrorism Unit

:57:33.:57:35.

has said that officers are searching to properties, the arrests were part

:57:36.:57:39.

of an ongoing investigation and intelligence led, no immediate

:57:40.:57:46.

threat to public safety. The men can be questioned for an initial 24-hour

:57:47.:57:49.

before they are charged, released or officers can apply for a warrant

:57:50.:57:53.

further detention. Coming up: As a cap is introduced on how much

:57:54.:58:02.

energy firms can charge customers using pre-payment meters - we look

:58:03.:58:05.

at how you can save money on your energy bills and switch suppliers

:58:06.:58:06.

more easily. Very wet weather conditions across

:58:07.:58:19.

the UK, this is a picture from East Midlands, showing that gorgeous

:58:20.:58:24.

sunrise, lots of blue sky. Further north, we have got some showers,

:58:25.:58:28.

also some sunny spells, weather conditions across Northern Ireland,

:58:29.:58:30.

parts of western Scotland going down. Rain and increasing wind.

:58:31.:58:37.

Choppy seas in County Down. There is the area of low pressure, quite a

:58:38.:58:43.

deep area, unseasonably windy for August. Northern areas will see most

:58:44.:58:48.

of the rain, southern areas, compared to the last few days,

:58:49.:58:51.

actually getting away with a lot of sunshine and feeling warm as well,

:58:52.:58:55.

the wind will really be a feature, Irish Sea coast areas 40, 45 mph,

:58:56.:59:01.

really going to be noticeable. Heavy, thundery showers through the

:59:02.:59:06.

afternoon, in towards the Moray Firth, some of the showers hit and

:59:07.:59:12.

miss, could get some local flooding. The wind gust, I have put the arrows

:59:13.:59:16.

on, wet and windy, that will be a feature through the afternoon across

:59:17.:59:20.

much of Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, north and north-west

:59:21.:59:23.

England, North West Wales, heavy rain at times, some showers for

:59:24.:59:27.

north-west England and West Wales but for the Midlands, South and

:59:28.:59:31.

East, a lovely looking day, lots of sunshine around. With that sunshine,

:59:32.:59:37.

averages 23, 20 4 degrees, still a warm day for the North and West.

:59:38.:59:40.

Little bit cooler than that across the extreme north, where we have

:59:41.:59:44.

strong wind and heavy rain. We have lost the humidity of yesterday. As

:59:45.:59:49.

we head on towards the evening, heavy rain clearing away for much of

:59:50.:59:51.

Scotland, overnight, blustery showers. The wind still quite a

:59:52.:59:57.

feature, but easing down all of the time. Temperature wise, not too bad.

:59:58.:00:02.

Area of low pressure tomorrow moving off into the North Sea, still fairly

:00:03.:00:05.

strong wind across the northern half of the UK, continuing to ease down

:00:06.:00:10.

through the day, another blustery start to the day, heavy rain

:00:11.:00:15.

clearing away, then we look at areas of showers, sunshine and showers

:00:16.:00:18.

really sums up tomorrow, some could be quite heavy, north-east England,

:00:19.:00:22.

through the Cheshire Gap, a touch cooler across-the-board, eyes of 22

:00:23.:00:28.

degrees. Into Friday, pretty decent day, high-pressure rich moving in,

:00:29.:00:33.

very few showers around, sunny spells, temperature 17 to 23

:00:34.:00:36.

degrees. This weekend looking good, away from the far north-west of

:00:37.:00:40.

Scotland, which could see wet and windy weather, a few showers around,

:00:41.:00:44.

plenty of sunshine, feeling warm in the sunshine.

:00:45.:00:50.

I'm Joanna Gosling, welcome to the programme

:00:51.:00:54.

Coming up before 11am: Four million of the UK's most vulnerable

:00:55.:00:58.

households could see their energy bills capped - under

:00:59.:01:01.

proposals that have been accepted by regulator Ofgem.

:01:02.:01:02.

What it's like to live in a devout community

:01:03.:01:10.

Adrienne from Belfast tells us her story.

:01:11.:01:16.

When people look and do a double take and then the adverse comments

:01:17.:01:22.

and the cat calls and the mockery will come and at times it can be

:01:23.:01:28.

extremely hurtful. Some very, very vulgar, nasty and threatening things

:01:29.:01:29.

can be said. And the terror threat in Europe,

:01:30.:01:35.

as events are cancelled across France - we look

:01:36.:01:38.

at what you need to know if you're Here's Julian in the BBC Newsroom

:01:39.:01:41.

with a summary of today's news. Lower energy prices

:01:42.:01:50.

could be on the way The gas and electricity regulator,

:01:51.:01:54.

Ofgem says it's going to introduce The announcement follows a report

:01:55.:02:00.

published by the Competition and Markets Authority in June

:02:01.:02:04.

which set out ways in Critics say it doesn't go far

:02:05.:02:07.

enough but Dermot Nolan, the Chief Executive of Ofgem,

:02:08.:02:12.

says people will get a better deal. There are a number of important

:02:13.:02:28.

changes. Four million people in the UK are on pre-payment meters. In the

:02:29.:02:32.

last few years they haven't been getting a great deal and we will be

:02:33.:02:36.

introducing clear protection for them which will save them ?70 or ?80

:02:37.:02:43.

a year. That's important because electricity is an essential service

:02:44.:02:46.

and the vulnerable need to be protected.

:02:47.:02:50.

Two men have been arrested in Coventry on suspicion

:02:51.:02:52.

of terrorism offences related to Syria.

:02:53.:02:53.

The pair, aged 38 and 40, were detained at an address

:02:54.:02:56.

Police say the arrests are part of an on going investigation.

:02:57.:03:08.

into the death of a woman from Bradford has confirmed

:03:09.:03:11.

Samia Shahid, who was 28, died last month while visiting

:03:12.:03:14.

Her husband says she was the victim of a so-called honour killing,

:03:15.:03:18.

an allegation denied by her relatives in Pakistan.

:03:19.:03:29.

Britain's border force has a "worryingly low" number of boats

:03:30.:03:32.

MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Committee say just three boats

:03:33.:03:35.

are available to patrol 7,000 miles of shoreline.

:03:36.:03:37.

It's calling for the Royal Navy to be brought in to help.

:03:38.:03:40.

Our correspondent Angus Crawford reports.

:03:41.:03:47.

A former Director-General of the UK Border Force told this programme is

:03:48.:03:53.

not just about having more boats. We have 16 different agencies involved

:03:54.:03:57.

in border protection, not just the Border Force. Yes, the Royal Navy

:03:58.:04:02.

are part of that. You have got the Maritime and Coastguard Agency,

:04:03.:04:05.

Border Force under the Home Office, Navy under the MoD, you have got the

:04:06.:04:09.

various police agencies and National Crime Agency, we need to make sure

:04:10.:04:15.

they work together under the umbrella of the national maritime

:04:16.:04:20.

intelligence centre. We don't want a number of boats out there if they

:04:21.:04:25.

don't know where to go or who to intercept. Yes, we need more

:04:26.:04:29.

vessels, but I don't think that's the only thing we need.

:04:30.:04:33.

Profits at Britain's biggest bank HSBC have fallen sharply.

:04:34.:04:38.

In the first six months of this year they were down by 29%

:04:39.:04:49.

compared to the same period last year ?7.2

:04:50.:04:56.

The bank said there had been "exceptional volatility"

:04:57.:04:58.

because of concern about China's economy and Britain's decision

:04:59.:05:01.

There will be more armed police officers patrolling the streets

:05:02.:05:04.

of London from today, in response to recent attacks

:05:05.:05:06.

The move has been announced by the commissioner

:05:07.:05:09.

of the Metropolitan police, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe,

:05:10.:05:11.

They say the aim is to reassure the public and deter attackers.

:05:12.:05:15.

A British man has been killed while fighting with Kurdish forces

:05:16.:05:18.

against so-called Islamic State militants in Syria.

:05:19.:05:20.

Kurdish reports say 22-year-old Dean Carl Evans died last month.

:05:21.:05:22.

His father, John, has confirmed the death.

:05:23.:05:25.

He is the second British man to die while fighting as a volunteer

:05:26.:05:28.

A tribute to Dean Evans was posted to one of the websites

:05:29.:05:37.

It also showed some recent video of him.

:05:38.:05:41.

According to friends, he was on the frontline

:05:42.:05:43.

behind a wall when he was hit by an IS bullet.

:05:44.:05:45.

A female Kurdish fighter who tried to save him was also killed

:05:46.:05:49.

when a rocket-propelled grenade hit them both.

:05:50.:05:51.

On Facebook, John Evans confirmed his son's death.

:05:52.:05:53.

He posted a photo of him when he was a teenager and said

:05:54.:05:57.

he would be loved and missed by all his family and friends.

:05:58.:06:00.

Dean Evans was killed in fierce fighting around the town of Manbij.

:06:01.:06:05.

It's said to be a key staging post on the road to Raqqa,

:06:06.:06:08.

The Foreign Office was unable to confirm his death and advises

:06:09.:06:22.

against all travel to Syria for whatever reason.

:06:23.:06:24.

Last year, another Briton, Erik Scurfield,

:06:25.:06:25.

The former Royal Marine from Barnsley was given full

:06:26.:06:28.

military honours when the Kurdish forces handed over his

:06:29.:06:30.

Dean Evans is said to have left a will saying he wanted to be buried

:06:31.:06:37.

in the Kurdish part of Syria, next to the people he called his

:06:38.:06:40.

The parents of Anton Yelchin - the Star Trek actor who was crushed

:06:41.:06:55.

to death by his jeep have been speaking out about their decision

:06:56.:06:57.

to take legal action against the makers of his car.

:06:58.:07:00.

The 27-year-old was found dead at his home in June.

:07:01.:07:02.

A recall had been in place on the vehicle since April,

:07:03.:07:05.

because similar Jeeps had rolled when owners thought the brake

:07:06.:07:07.

He was our only son and he was a remarkable human being, very modest,

:07:08.:07:22.

very simple, very honest, generous, loving. It is wrong, it is against

:07:23.:07:31.

nature when the parents Bury their own child. That's why we hope that

:07:32.:07:40.

this lawsuit will make our family never go through the same hell that

:07:41.:07:43.

we are going through right now. Two Amur leopards -

:07:44.:07:58.

believed to be the world's rarest big cat have been born

:07:59.:08:00.

at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire. There are only about 70

:08:01.:08:02.

of the leopards left in the wild. The zoo says the new arrivals

:08:03.:08:05.

will help ensure the long-term They're the second pair born to mum

:08:06.:08:09.

Kristen and dad Davidoff. The zoo says the new arrivals

:08:10.:08:16.

will help ensure the long-term Lots of you getting in touch on the

:08:17.:08:29.

report of the transgender living in Northern Ireland. Ben tweeted,

:08:30.:08:33.

"Horrible. Northern Ireland is very far behind the UK when it comes to

:08:34.:08:39.

treating trans people with dignity. Dwths Wendy treated, "That's scary.

:08:40.:08:44.

Why can't folk be who they want to be?"

:08:45.:08:48.

Time to catch up with John who has the latest sport.

:08:49.:08:54.

Plenty going on this morning as the build up to the start

:08:55.:08:58.

This morning at Edgbaston England Cricketers take on Pakistan

:08:59.:09:02.

in the third test and that is where we will start.

:09:03.:09:05.

Patrick one all after two tests, England levelling with a comfortable

:09:06.:09:14.

win in the last match at Old Trafford.

:09:15.:09:17.

And with two matches to play, it's all in the balance?

:09:18.:09:21.

Cricket is going to have a lot of competition in the coming weeks with

:09:22.:09:27.

the Olympic Games and the return of the football season dominating the

:09:28.:09:30.

back pages and the sports bulletin, but this one is intriguingly poised.

:09:31.:09:37.

The first Test Pakistan won at Lords, but England roared back in

:09:38.:09:41.

that second Test and because of that have real momentum coming to

:09:42.:09:44.

Edgbaston, but they don't have Ben Stokes. He is a real miss for

:09:45.:09:47.

England both with ball and bat and because he is a big character in the

:09:48.:09:53.

England dressing room. England have recalled Steven Finn which means

:09:54.:09:58.

their batting will be weaker, but Finn has struggled to impress with

:09:59.:10:01.

the ball this season and particularly in the first Test and

:10:02.:10:06.

that's something that Alastair Cook acknowledged yesterday. We have gone

:10:07.:10:09.

for a guy who has got a really good record here. His Test record is

:10:10.:10:13.

fantastic. He picks up wickets. He has done that in the past and we're

:10:14.:10:17.

backing a guy who hasn't had the best summer, but I think a couple of

:10:18.:10:20.

things have changed over the last week, a couple of things physically

:10:21.:10:26.

he sorted out and I thought the way he bowled for Essex, the pace is

:10:27.:10:32.

back up to high 80s and 90s which is when Steven Finn is at his best.

:10:33.:10:36.

Sometimes in selection going that way, you know, people aren't always

:10:37.:10:40.

looking over their shoulder all the time which gives people confidence

:10:41.:10:43.

to go out and express themselves. Changes being made to the England

:10:44.:10:47.

side then Patrick. How will that affect things going into the Test

:10:48.:10:53.

match? Well, it is an interesting one how this one will work out. It

:10:54.:10:58.

won't be a quiet game, John. This ground has a reputation, a deserved

:10:59.:11:02.

reputation as the most boisterous in England and Alastair Cook England

:11:03.:11:09.

talked of the riotous atmosphere, which is something that will inspire

:11:10.:11:13.

the England team. The Pakistan fan have been here going up and down the

:11:14.:11:18.

Edgbaston Road in a bus! England have won six of the last ten Tests

:11:19.:11:25.

and Pakistan have never beaten them here and it doesn't pay to bat first

:11:26.:11:30.

on this pitch. This maybe the crucial day of the series. When I

:11:31.:11:33.

came to the ground I was talking to a taxi driver about the match, they

:11:34.:11:37.

always have an opinion, but he said he didn't know and I think that's a

:11:38.:11:42.

good place to be on the first morning of a Test match! Thanks,

:11:43.:11:46.

Patrick. After missing three drugs tests

:11:47.:11:52.

which could have forced cyclist Lizzie Armitstead to be

:11:53.:11:56.

banned from the Rio Olympics, the silver medallist

:11:57.:11:59.

from London 2012 has admitted she that she was naive in not

:12:00.:12:03.

challenging the first of those until her Olympic place was

:12:04.:12:07.

in jeapordy. It was only

:12:08.:12:08.

after missing a third test and facing a possible two year

:12:09.:12:13.

suspension that she took her case to the court of arbitration

:12:14.:12:16.

for sport and her first failure UK Anti-doping feels there needs

:12:17.:12:19.

to be more explanation I'm not disappointed. I respect the

:12:20.:12:32.

process, the Court of Arbitration for Sport is a very experienced

:12:33.:12:36.

panel. They deal with anti-doping matters probably day in and day out.

:12:37.:12:42.

I have yet to understand fully, because I have yet to see the

:12:43.:12:47.

written decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, what it is

:12:48.:12:51.

that this case turned on. And only at that point will I really be able

:12:52.:12:53.

to fully come to a conclusion. We're just days away

:12:54.:12:56.

from the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics,

:12:57.:12:58.

but already we're looking ahead to Tokyo 2020,

:12:59.:13:00.

with the IOC set to announce today which sports will be added

:13:01.:13:02.

to the Games in four years time. It's one of eight sports that

:13:03.:13:08.

have been shortlisted, British climber and Bouldering world

:13:09.:13:15.

number one Shauna Coxsey says it would be incredible if she gets

:13:16.:13:18.

the chance to compete. I mean it's something that I never

:13:19.:13:27.

expected to see in my professional career as a climber. So it's, it is

:13:28.:13:33.

a bit overwhelming considering climbing being in the Olympics. It

:13:34.:13:37.

is a really accessible sport and it is a very natural sport to do. As

:13:38.:13:42.

kids we want to climb trees and jump around on climbing frames. It is

:13:43.:13:45.

something that feels quite natural and it is so much fun. You see

:13:46.:13:51.

people come in and you get to be a big kid and jump around and climb on

:13:52.:13:54.

things and no one will tell you off for it!

:13:55.:13:59.

That's all the sport for now, I will have more at 10.30am. See you then,

:14:00.:14:00.

thank you. Good news for people who have

:14:01.:14:04.

to use a pre-payment meter There's to be a cap set on how much

:14:05.:14:07.

energy firms can charge It's one of a range of plans

:14:08.:14:11.

designed to make the energy Big energy firms are also

:14:12.:14:15.

going to be encouraged to make it easier for people to switch to other

:14:16.:14:19.

companies to get better deals. The energy watchdog Ofgem says

:14:20.:14:22.

the meter limit will help the most vulnerable and could

:14:23.:14:26.

save them around ?75 a year. Let's talk to David Cox an

:14:27.:14:33.

energy analyst. Ed Kamm,

:14:34.:14:35.

managing director of energy company First Utility and Guy Thompson

:14:36.:14:37.

who runs price-comparison website My Utility Genius,

:14:38.:14:39.

Lisa Frederiksen, a working mum who has found switching

:14:40.:14:41.

to a new supplier frustrating, Thank you very much for joining us.

:14:42.:14:50.

David, first of all, you look at what's going on in the industry.

:14:51.:14:54.

What do you think about what Ofgem has come up with? I think they will

:14:55.:14:59.

implement the CMA report. I think most people in the industry think

:15:00.:15:04.

the CMA report... The competition markets authority. It is a missed

:15:05.:15:07.

opportunity. They have not done a good job in identifying the problems

:15:08.:15:11.

in the competitive market. What's the problems you've identified?

:15:12.:15:14.

People weren't switching enough. They are not looking for the

:15:15.:15:19.

cheapest priced deals and the energy companies, the big six dominate the

:15:20.:15:24.

energy market. Is anything that's come out today going to change that?

:15:25.:15:28.

I don't think so. I'm disappointed with what Ofgem are going to do in

:15:29.:15:31.

terms of implementing the findings. They have to. Ofgem are in a

:15:32.:15:34.

difficult place. They have been criticised heavily in the past for

:15:35.:15:37.

allowing this market not to work very well and in fact, putting in

:15:38.:15:41.

some measures that have actually damaged competition in the market in

:15:42.:15:45.

the past. So they're going to try and implement some of the measures,

:15:46.:15:48.

but I'm not confident that we will see a major step improvement.

:15:49.:15:54.

Ed, you are the biggest of the independents, what do you think

:15:55.:16:01.

about this? We agree. I disagree in that I think the competition

:16:02.:16:04.

authority correctly identified the problem. Too many customers take a

:16:05.:16:08.

passive approach to energy buying. Unlike any product that they buy. As

:16:09.:16:13.

such, 70% of the consumers in the household energy market are on the

:16:14.:16:17.

worse tariffs. I don't blame the consumers for that. The suppliers

:16:18.:16:20.

don't do a lot to prompt them to look at the market to look at better

:16:21.:16:25.

deals and so I think the competition authority correctly identified the

:16:26.:16:29.

problem that you have what we call the tale of two markets, one market

:16:30.:16:33.

that's engaged and they look to switch tariffs and switch providers

:16:34.:16:37.

and they are getting great deals and another segment of the market that

:16:38.:16:40.

doesn't look to engage and doesn't look at the offers on the market and

:16:41.:16:43.

therefore, they get a raw deal from the big six. What they haven't done

:16:44.:16:47.

is they haven't involved that. They have put it back on the consumer to

:16:48.:16:54.

look around. The information remedies of giving the consumers the

:16:55.:16:58.

right information so they can make the right choice isn't strong

:16:59.:17:04.

enough. We think they get worse. It used to be any provider to only

:17:05.:17:09.

provide four tariffs, now you can provide an unlimited amount of

:17:10.:17:10.

tariffs. 'S very few consumers have said that

:17:11.:17:17.

they want more tariffs, if any thing they have said the opposite, we are

:17:18.:17:22.

not pleased because we don't think the competition authority has the

:17:23.:17:25.

right solutions, they have put it on the back of the consumer, and in

:17:26.:17:29.

essence, customers can wallow away on the standard variable tariff, the

:17:30.:17:33.

highest placed on the market, for decades, that is what we see

:17:34.:17:36.

happening in the market today and I do not see that changing. You think

:17:37.:17:41.

it will be more likely that people will switch after today? I don't

:17:42.:17:47.

think it will make any material difference to the man industry. They

:17:48.:17:52.

were not engaged before, they were not engage now. Nobly has chosen to

:17:53.:18:04.

grasp the nettle, symptomatic, when you get the CDMA brought in to deal

:18:05.:18:08.

with the market that already had a regulator, you know that something

:18:09.:18:11.

is fairly substantive the wrong, they still have not chosen to grasp

:18:12.:18:17.

the nettle, 70% of people on standard variable tariff, six

:18:18.:18:21.

companies have a massive voice in the market, in terms of marketing,

:18:22.:18:25.

they can do more talking to people, they can manage the situation. --

:18:26.:18:31.

CMA. Until you effectively decide that... It is... We have discussed

:18:32.:18:35.

it so many times, there are organisations, companies like yours,

:18:36.:18:39.

all kinds of options out there, that should make it easy for people to

:18:40.:18:44.

switch and they are not switching. It is easy, that is the irony, but

:18:45.:18:49.

the message does not get out there because the people with the weight

:18:50.:18:54.

from a marketing perspective are marketing stay with us, not switch.

:18:55.:18:59.

The messaging is 85% stay with us, because of these reasons... Only 15%

:19:00.:19:06.

of the messaging is switch. Switching is easy but the mechanism,

:19:07.:19:12.

any time anything goes wrong, it is normally a result of the company you

:19:13.:19:15.

are switching from that is the problem, that is not how the

:19:16.:19:19.

consumer sees it, they seem switching as having been the

:19:20.:19:22.

problem... Is that a deliberate ploy by the companies that are being

:19:23.:19:27.

switched away from? I don't know, I think they don't have an incentive

:19:28.:19:32.

to fix it, if you don't have an incentive to fix the issue, then the

:19:33.:19:38.

old adage, that a happy person tells to people and an unhappy person

:19:39.:19:42.

tells 11 people, one person has a bad experience switching because of

:19:43.:19:47.

some fundamental data related issue with the existing supply business,

:19:48.:19:54.

their first move is to blame the switching business or blamed the

:19:55.:19:57.

company they are switching to, simultaneously, the other companies

:19:58.:20:00.

phoning them saying, why are you moving, we can change your direct

:20:01.:20:03.

debit level, which does not change the price, to a more amendable

:20:04.:20:10.

number. Lisa is a consumer, what has your experience been, have you

:20:11.:20:17.

switched? We are one of those consumers, every year we look at the

:20:18.:20:20.

costs and we try to get the best deal, but the issue we have had,

:20:21.:20:25.

with trying to switch, telling a new supply what the meter reading was,

:20:26.:20:29.

they read the meter, they confirmed it, then the old supplier refused to

:20:30.:20:36.

accept that as some kind of method of communication between electricity

:20:37.:20:41.

supplies and gas suppliers, they would not accept the meter reading,

:20:42.:20:45.

it took three months to sort out, in the meantime, they owed us ?290.

:20:46.:20:51.

What do you take from that, does it make you less likely to switch? We

:20:52.:20:58.

look at it every year, switching should be simple, it is not. Finding

:20:59.:21:04.

competitive tariffs is quite congregated, very often you have to

:21:05.:21:09.

do dual fuel versus single fuel, that becomes an issue for some

:21:10.:21:13.

people, because the market is geared towards tiny in towards getting both

:21:14.:21:20.

from one supplier. We asked to go on the single tariff electricity, and

:21:21.:21:24.

single tariff gas, they refused and said we had to go on the joint

:21:25.:21:30.

tariff, which is more expensive. I think that they are pricing it

:21:31.:21:34.

against the consumer all of the time. In the end, if everybody

:21:35.:21:40.

switch, prices would go up across-the-board, because they

:21:41.:21:44.

identified ?1.7 billion that could be saved if everybody switch, it is

:21:45.:21:45.

a mythical number. I think it is. We are privately held, we don't

:21:46.:22:22.

report profit margins, but I cannot say that it is a fraction of six to

:22:23.:22:27.

8%. You cannot run a business on a 1% profit margins, the idea that we

:22:28.:22:34.

can work ?300 of everyone's combined bill would drive the energy

:22:35.:22:37.

companies into bankruptcy, we would not get the investment in

:22:38.:22:40.

infrastructure that we need to the lights on. There is a bit of a

:22:41.:22:45.

fulsome Raj being presented here, to consumers, if everyone switches

:22:46.:22:53.

?300, you will not. Focusing on margin is the wrong thing, you

:22:54.:22:57.

should be focusing on the cost and what a reasonable cost to the market

:22:58.:23:01.

should be, and the reality is that if a company has 70% of the customer

:23:02.:23:07.

bases that do not switch, it has no incentive to become more efficient

:23:08.:23:10.

or deploy the best systems, what you have, having worked with these

:23:11.:23:14.

companies, I have an insider view, businesses that have absolutely no

:23:15.:23:18.

requirement to get better at what they are doing. So they can still

:23:19.:23:23.

report a relatively small margin because costs are massively inflated

:23:24.:23:28.

because they are inefficient. If the competitive market forces them to be

:23:29.:23:32.

competitive, then not all of the 1.3 billion is going to fly back to the

:23:33.:23:35.

consumers, but a significant chunk will. It is not right to say that in

:23:36.:23:44.

a fully competitive world, we... It is not going to happen. Thank you

:23:45.:23:48.

very much, thank you for coming in to speak with us, thank you for your

:23:49.:23:52.

comments, keep them coming in, let us know what your spirits is having.

:23:53.:23:56.

Still to come, another British man has been killed while fighting with

:23:57.:24:03.

Kurdish forces against Islamic State in Syria, we will speak with a

:24:04.:24:07.

representative of his family. Last night, the Scottish Conservative

:24:08.:24:09.

leader Ruth Davidson called on Northern Ireland to follow the rest

:24:10.:24:13.

of Britain and legalise gay marriage. In a moment we will speak

:24:14.:24:16.

with the people directly affected. First, a place where sexual

:24:17.:24:20.

identity, politics and religion regularly clash, Peterculter has

:24:21.:24:24.

spent time with a transgender woman living in Belfast.

:24:25.:25:04.

adapt to social changes, and more liberal leanings of its young

:25:05.:25:12.

people. What where is the LGBT community fitting into this new

:25:13.:25:17.

piece time Northern Ireland? -- piece time. -- peacetime.

:25:18.:25:31.

You have obviously joined this church, you have become a member of

:25:32.:25:35.

the community, how important has that been for you? It is massively

:25:36.:25:40.

important, I did not think that I would ever find an acceptance in the

:25:41.:25:48.

Christian church, it was like to world that coexisted but could not

:25:49.:25:51.

exist together. Being here and being who I am, it has just made it so

:25:52.:25:59.

much more real. So that I can worship as the person I was always

:26:00.:26:00.

meant to be. How did the Orange Order react

:26:01.:26:33.

when you first told them They weren't sort of cross with me

:26:34.:26:35.

if you see what I mean, they tried to maybe dissuade me

:26:36.:26:40.

in a very gentle and Christian way Would you like to be asked to join

:26:41.:26:43.

the women's Lodge? Yes, I think so, I would like to be

:26:44.:26:47.

given the opportunity. Once again, I don't know if it

:26:48.:26:49.

would really ever be possible. Maybe in the future it would be

:26:50.:26:53.

nice if it was possible, maybe that is something

:26:54.:26:56.

for another generation. Do you think that the Orange Order

:26:57.:26:58.

could accept a transgender member? Some people would say yes,

:26:59.:27:01.

some people would say no but I'd like to think that it's something

:27:02.:27:05.

for the future, yes. We ask the orange order if

:27:06.:27:10.

transgender members would be able to join. In a statement they said that

:27:11.:27:12.

"Any application for membership of the Orange Institution is treated on

:27:13.:27:15.

its own individual merits." Last year the assembly voted in favour of

:27:16.:27:17.

legalising same sex marriage but the ruling Democratic Unionist Party

:27:18.:27:19.

used what's known as a Petition of Concern to stop the reform going

:27:20.:27:21.

through. Last year the assembly voted in

:27:22.:27:42.

favour of legalising same sex marriage but the ruling Democratic

:27:43.:27:45.

Unionist Party used what's known as a Petition of Concern to stop the

:27:46.:27:47.

reform going through. We asked the party to allow us to speak to one of

:27:48.:27:50.

their assembly members this morning to discuss the issue, but they

:27:51.:27:52.

refused to allow any to participate. They also refused to provide a

:27:53.:27:55.

statement on any of the issues we'll be discussing. Lets talk now with

:27:56.:27:58.

Adam Murray who works for an LGBT organisation in Belfast and has

:27:59.:28:00.

campaigned for equal marriage, Ellen Murray, transgender woman who works

:28:01.:28:02.

for a support group for trans people in Northern Ireland. Peter Lynas who

:28:03.:28:04.

is the Northern Ireland director of the Evangelical Alliance and opposes

:28:05.:28:07.

gay marriage, Why'd you oppose gay marriage? Good morning, it is

:28:08.:28:09.

important that we get some facts correct, in your report it said that

:28:10.:28:12.

it had been blocked by the times, but that is incorrect, there were

:28:13.:28:14.

four votes prior to that, majority people voted against any change,

:28:15.:28:16.

only in the final vote, this has come before the Zambia five times,

:28:17.:28:19.

only on the last occasion was the petition of concern used, the reason

:28:20.:28:24.

is simple, it requires cross community support. -- this has come

:28:25.:28:29.

before it five times. One is about right, there is no European or UN

:28:30.:28:34.

right to same-sex marriage or to redefine marriage, the second is

:28:35.:28:37.

around love, the reality is that love is not a human rights in that

:28:38.:28:42.

way, the law does not legislate for love, it always puts limits on who

:28:43.:28:45.

you can marry, based on age and family relationships. The final

:28:46.:28:50.

argument is a quality, not long ago, Stonewall were saying that marriage

:28:51.:28:53.

was a hetero normative concept and they wanted civil partnerships,

:28:54.:29:00.

civil partnerships came into being, I gave Adam ?5 notes -- the way in

:29:01.:29:08.

which society has chosen to approach this issue is in the same way as if

:29:09.:29:12.

I gave Adam to ?5 note and I gave you a ?10 note. Adam Murray, what do

:29:13.:29:21.

you say about that? -- ?25 notes. Different but equal, where have we

:29:22.:29:28.

heard that before! -- 2 five pound notes. It is a big thing to ask of a

:29:29.:29:36.

society that has come so far, we won that vote, this cross community

:29:37.:29:42.

support, created to support sectarian domination of one side

:29:43.:29:46.

over the other, this legislation was designed to protect equality,

:29:47.:29:49.

equality is being denied at this point in time. It is really not

:29:50.:29:53.

acceptable and we are not going to accept this different but equal

:29:54.:29:58.

status, this is not just a religious issue, if single marriage as macro

:29:59.:30:03.

marriage is something that is offered to the population large, it

:30:04.:30:07.

must at be offered to everyone equally, the love between two adult

:30:08.:30:10.

men or women is no different than the love shared by one man and one

:30:11.:30:14.

woman. There is no such thing as civil marriage, you can have a civil

:30:15.:30:19.

wedding and a religious wedding but there is only one marriage. Those

:30:20.:30:26.

are intertwined. You cannot have a civil marriage, there is only one

:30:27.:30:31.

marriage. This can redefine marriage and put views on other people.

:30:32.:30:36.

Northern Ireland is getting portrayed as backward, it is

:30:37.:30:42.

inaccurate. Northern Ireland is out of kilter with the rest of the UK on

:30:43.:30:47.

this. 170 countries around the world have marriage between a man and a

:30:48.:30:51.

woman, only 20 have recognised a different form of marriage. It is

:30:52.:30:56.

out of kilter with Scotland and England and Wales but not out of

:30:57.:30:59.

kilter with the vast majority of countries around the world, it is

:31:00.:31:02.

not backward in that sense, it has chosen to go a different way, a

:31:03.:31:06.

consequence of devolution, Northern Ireland gets to do things

:31:07.:31:07.

differently. Does it matter to you? Certainly, it matters to the LGBT

:31:08.:31:20.

community generally in a large way, even for folks who don't avail of it

:31:21.:31:26.

personally, it sends a signal to our community that we have equal access

:31:27.:31:31.

to the benefits of society. This is not about religious institutions and

:31:32.:31:34.

those who have been protected throughout the discussions. We are

:31:35.:31:37.

talking about the role of the State in recognising relationships and not

:31:38.:31:40.

further. What difference do you think it would make, Adam, if gay

:31:41.:31:44.

marriage were given the go-ahead in Northern Ireland? Well, there is

:31:45.:31:49.

that important symbolic aspect. It is about equal status under the law

:31:50.:31:55.

that you have equal access to civil marriage. You know, it is not

:31:56.:32:01.

actually, I think, the biggest issue, you know, we have really big

:32:02.:32:06.

problems with homophobia within our schools and that's for me

:32:07.:32:09.

personally, that's something I care about maybe a lot more, but... So to

:32:10.:32:15.

focus on that then, what do you think would make a difference? In

:32:16.:32:21.

terms of schools? Just in terms of the general intolerance that you are

:32:22.:32:25.

describing and schools are part of that. Schools are the biggest part

:32:26.:32:30.

of it, I think. A lot of the issues we deal with in the LGBT community,

:32:31.:32:35.

higher levels of self-harming and suicide and lower levels of good

:32:36.:32:38.

mental health, these are problems which are formed actually during the

:32:39.:32:42.

formative years of schools and if you asked me one big change I would

:32:43.:32:48.

want, it would be for section 75 or some similar legislation to apply to

:32:49.:32:52.

schools that they have to track homophobic bullying and they have to

:32:53.:32:57.

track homophobic incidents and they have to train their teachers to deal

:32:58.:33:01.

with homophobia and they have to treat homophobia in the same way as

:33:02.:33:07.

they would treat racism. If we were to change that, I think it would

:33:08.:33:12.

have massive changes on our society. Peter respond to that. I have no

:33:13.:33:16.

problem. We have been very clear. I have been at Pride and I have been

:33:17.:33:21.

involved in discussions with Rainbow and other groups on the ground.

:33:22.:33:25.

Clear in term of saying homophobic bullying is wrong. There is no place

:33:26.:33:28.

for that, but it is important that all sides then show how we debate

:33:29.:33:34.

this issue well. The last motion that came, it was limited to

:33:35.:33:40.

couples, only to couples and there are already asking why can't three

:33:41.:33:43.

people who love each other come into a relationship? We need to have the

:33:44.:33:50.

debate. The Green Party said in the UK they want to see three people in

:33:51.:33:54.

a relationship. That's an open and valid position to take. It is one I

:33:55.:33:57.

would object to and say that's our concern. It is undermining a

:33:58.:34:02.

fundamental relationship that is uniquely placed in the case of

:34:03.:34:05.

children. It is a different discussion from the one about gay

:34:06.:34:08.

marriage, but thank you all very much for joining us. Thank you for

:34:09.:34:10.

your time. With the news, here's Julian

:34:11.:34:13.

in the BBC Newsroom. Yoan that, thank you very much.

:34:14.:34:17.

-- Joanna. The gas and electricity regulator,

:34:18.:34:24.

Ofgem, has endorsed a series of proposals designed to cut

:34:25.:34:26.

customers' energy bills in England, Wales and Scotland,

:34:27.:34:29.

calling them a "watershed The proposals include

:34:30.:34:31.

a price cap for pre-payment meters which are used

:34:32.:34:34.

by around four million people. The announcement follows a report

:34:35.:34:36.

published by the Competition and Markets Authority in June

:34:37.:34:38.

which set out ways in Dermot Nolan says people will get a

:34:39.:34:48.

better deal. There is a number of quite important changes. One I would

:34:49.:34:53.

say is the recommendation of pre-payment customers. Four million

:34:54.:34:56.

people in the UK are on pre-payment meters. In the last few years, they

:34:57.:34:59.

haven't been getting a great deal and we will be introducing a clear

:35:00.:35:03.

protection for them which will save them ?70, ?80 a year. That's an

:35:04.:35:07.

important, because electricity is an essential service and the vulnerable

:35:08.:35:09.

really do need to be protected. Two men have been arrested

:35:10.:35:13.

in Coventry on suspicion of terrorism offences

:35:14.:35:15.

related to Syria. The pair, aged 38 and 40,

:35:16.:35:16.

were detained at an address West Midlands Police say

:35:17.:35:19.

the arrests are part A police officer in Pakistan

:35:20.:35:24.

in charge of an investigation the death of a woman from Bradford

:35:25.:35:28.

has confirmed she was strangled. Samia Shahid, who was 28,

:35:29.:35:31.

died last month while visiting Her husband says she was the victim

:35:32.:35:33.

of a so-called honour killing, an allegation denied

:35:34.:35:38.

by her relatives in Pakistan. UK Border Force has a "worryingly

:35:39.:35:44.

low" number of boats patrolling Britain's coasts,

:35:45.:35:47.

according to MPs. The Home Affairs Select Committee

:35:48.:35:49.

said that just three boats are available to patrol 7,000 miles

:35:50.:35:52.

of shoreline. It has called

:35:53.:35:56.

for the Royal Navy to be brought The Government says it's already

:35:57.:35:59.

taking measures to combat a rise in people smuggling and it's ordered

:36:00.:36:03.

eight more patrol vessels. But a former Director-General

:36:04.:36:08.

of the UK Border Force told this programme it is not just

:36:09.:36:10.

about having more boats. We do have about 16 different

:36:11.:36:18.

agencies involved in border protection, not just the Border

:36:19.:36:21.

Force, so yes, the Royal Navy are part of that. You have got the

:36:22.:36:25.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency which comes under the Department for

:36:26.:36:28.

Transport, Border Force under the Home Office, navy under the MoD, you

:36:29.:36:32.

have got the various police agencies, we need to make sure they

:36:33.:36:37.

all work together under the umbrella of the national maritime

:36:38.:36:39.

intelligence centre so that we get the right intelligence because we

:36:40.:36:44.

don't want an armada of boats out there if they don't know where to go

:36:45.:36:48.

and what to intercept. Yes, we need more vessels, but I don't think

:36:49.:36:53.

that's the only thing we need. That's a summary of the latest

:36:54.:36:59.

news, join me for BBC Here's the latest

:37:00.:37:01.

sport now with John. After missing three drugs tests

:37:02.:37:04.

which could have forced Cyclist Lizzie Armitstead to be

:37:05.:37:07.

banned from the Rio Olympics, the silver medallist

:37:08.:37:09.

from London 2012 has admitted she that she was naive in not

:37:10.:37:11.

challenging the first of those until her Olympic place was

:37:12.:37:14.

in jeapordy. It was only

:37:15.:37:16.

after missing a third test and facing a possible two year

:37:17.:37:18.

suspension, she took her case to the court of arbitration

:37:19.:37:20.

for sport and her first failure UK Ant-doping, while happy

:37:21.:37:23.

with the process, feels there needs to be more explanation

:37:24.:37:27.

as to why it was not upheld. Cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins has said

:37:28.:37:35.

the honour of being flag-bearer at the opening ceremony

:37:36.:37:38.

of the Rio Olympics should Wiggins featured in the opening

:37:39.:37:40.

of the Games at London Playing his part in

:37:41.:37:45.

the opening ceremony. Boxer Nicola Adams, long-distance

:37:46.:37:47.

runner Jo Pavey and tennis player Andy Murray are among the other

:37:48.:37:50.

contenders to carry the flag in Rio, with a decision expected

:37:51.:37:53.

by the BOA today. Steven Finn is back in the England

:37:54.:37:56.

side to face Pakistan He replaces the injured

:37:57.:37:59.

all-rounder Ben Stokes. With the series level at 1-1,

:38:00.:38:08.

it's all in the balance, That's all the sport for now.

:38:09.:38:22.

The Australian family living in the Highlands have been told they have

:38:23.:38:30.

lost their battle to stay in the UK. Gregg and Catherine Brain have

:38:31.:38:34.

failed to find jobs. The Home Office has written to them saying it is

:38:35.:38:40.

asking them to leave. Let's talk to Gregg. Thank you for joining us. Is

:38:41.:38:44.

that it, you have been told you have to go? Well, we have been told we

:38:45.:38:54.

have to go. I think, however, I said I would not characterise this as

:38:55.:38:58.

over. We are talking to our lawyer. We may be able to make an

:38:59.:39:01.

application if an employer comes forward. So certainly, we will be

:39:02.:39:04.

talking to the Home Office about what arrangements need to be made

:39:05.:39:09.

going forward. But we are a long way from giving up yet. What have you

:39:10.:39:13.

been told by the Home Office? Well, we have been told by the Home

:39:14.:39:18.

Office, the letter we received essentially mirrors who they have

:39:19.:39:23.

made in their public statement. As of 1st August we have not made an

:39:24.:39:28.

application, which is true. And that obviously at this point we are here

:39:29.:39:32.

without leave and should be making arrangements to leave voluntarily,

:39:33.:39:36.

however, we are of the understanding that we may be able to make an

:39:37.:39:39.

application and have that considered by the Home Office. We are still

:39:40.:39:43.

searching for an employer and hope that one will come forward and make

:39:44.:39:47.

an application to allow us to stay. We are disappointed that they have

:39:48.:39:51.

decided not to follow what we would have hoped would have been the

:39:52.:39:55.

honourable course in giving us what was promised in the advertising to

:39:56.:39:59.

entice us to come over here when they told us if you come over her on

:40:00.:40:03.

a study visa, there will be this workplace after it. The Immigration

:40:04.:40:09.

Minister says that there are no exceptional considerations which

:40:10.:40:12.

would justify granting you leave to remain outside the immigration rules

:40:13.:40:15.

as they are. Officials will be in touch with you later this week to

:40:16.:40:19.

discuss a voluntary departure to Australia. If immigration officials

:40:20.:40:24.

get in touch and say, "Right, let's plan how you head back to

:40:25.:40:27.

Australia." What will you say? What will you do? Well, what we will be

:40:28.:40:31.

saying to them is we are in discussions with our lawyer that we

:40:32.:40:34.

will be doing everything we can to comply with the laws as they

:40:35.:40:39.

currently stand. We are in the rather cynical situation of hoping

:40:40.:40:42.

that the laws will remain the case and not be changed again because

:40:43.:40:45.

that's what happened. The Home Office said this is the law as it

:40:46.:40:50.

stands and you don't fulfil the criteria, you are here illegally so

:40:51.:40:54.

you have to go? Well, that's the situation as it stands if we don't

:40:55.:40:58.

make an application. I think that the possibility exists that we may

:40:59.:41:02.

still be able to make an application which the Home Office would

:41:03.:41:05.

consider. While things are awkward for us, they certainly admit that, I

:41:06.:41:08.

don't think we are at a situation where they are expecting us to turn

:41:09.:41:13.

ourselves into the local police station and put us in a detention

:41:14.:41:17.

centre and put us on a plane. We are a long way from that point yet.

:41:18.:41:22.

Gregg Brain, thank you for joining us. No problem at all, thank you.

:41:23.:41:28.

The businessman Ian Taylor, who was reportedly in line

:41:29.:41:30.

for a knighthood in David Cameron's resignation honours list,

:41:31.:41:32.

has said he does not want his name to go forward.

:41:33.:41:35.

The oil firm boss is a Conservative Party donor

:41:36.:41:37.

and also made donations to the EU Remain campaign.

:41:38.:41:39.

He has written to both Mr Cameron and Theresa May asking

:41:40.:41:42.

for his name to be withdrawn from the list.

:41:43.:41:44.

Our Political correspondent, Tom Bateman is following

:41:45.:41:45.

Tom, tell us more about the controversy around this and what the

:41:46.:41:53.

latest is? Well, of course, it is several days now since the Sunday

:41:54.:41:57.

Times leaked that list of what it said were people who were in line

:41:58.:42:01.

for honours. The controversy around many of it being because many of the

:42:02.:42:05.

people in that apparent list were those who had given money to a

:42:06.:42:09.

campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union which, of course,

:42:10.:42:15.

the vote that was lost by that side. So there was some criticism of David

:42:16.:42:20.

Cameron in the resignation honours for having apparently wanting those

:42:21.:42:24.

people to get knighthoods and other such awards. Now, what we have had

:42:25.:42:30.

overnight, late last night, Ian Taylor, who as you mentioned is a

:42:31.:42:34.

Chief Executive of the oil company, but also a key beenor to the Tory

:42:35.:42:38.

Party, understood to have given hundreds of thousands of pounds over

:42:39.:42:42.

the years and donated to the Remain campaign in the referendum. He came

:42:43.:42:45.

out and said well, look, if it is true that I am on the list, to be

:42:46.:42:50.

given a knighthood, effectively, I don't want it. He in a statement

:42:51.:42:54.

said that he had written to the current Prime Minister, Theresa May

:42:55.:42:57.

and her predecessor David Cameron saying he wishes to be taken out of

:42:58.:43:02.

the running for that honour. He also referred to the way in which his

:43:03.:43:07.

company had been the subject of attacks of speculation in the press

:43:08.:43:11.

which was completely inaccurate. So this is another twist in that sort

:43:12.:43:18.

of furore around the honours, the resignation list that David Cameron

:43:19.:43:21.

put out. I don't think will be the end of it, we are seeing mutterings

:43:22.:43:25.

that perhaps the system needs to be reformed further and being made more

:43:26.:43:28.

transparent, but remember, there is a key difference between these

:43:29.:43:32.

resignation honours that are in the gift of an outgoing Prime Minister

:43:33.:43:37.

and the usual honours we are used to at New Year and the Queen's birthday

:43:38.:43:41.

honours which tend to go through what is seen to be a system that is

:43:42.:43:45.

more balanced and with greater transparency, but I think we can

:43:46.:43:47.

expect more questions about that as well.

:43:48.:43:48.

Thank you very much, Tom. A British man has reportedly been

:43:49.:43:53.

killed while fighting with Kurdish forces against so-called

:43:54.:43:55.

Islamic State militants in Syria. Kurdish forces say Dean Carl Evans,

:43:56.:43:57.

who's from Reading, was killed His father has confirmed his death

:43:58.:44:00.

on social media saying, "He was loved and will be missed

:44:01.:44:05.

by all his family and friends". Mr Evans was one of many foreign

:44:06.:44:09.

volunteers who joined the People's Defence Units or YPG,

:44:10.:44:14.

the Kurdish military force With me is Mark Campbell,

:44:15.:44:16.

a UK-based pro-Kurdish activist, who speaks on behalf

:44:17.:44:24.

of Dean Carl Evans' family and also Hamish De Bretton-Gordon,

:44:25.:44:26.

a former British Army officer now helping train Peshmerga

:44:27.:44:29.

forces in Iraq. Thank you very much for coming in.

:44:30.:44:36.

Mark, tell us more about Dean, where he was and what he was doing? Well,

:44:37.:44:42.

can I first say before I do that that when Dean join the force, he

:44:43.:44:50.

put on his next of kin form, his stepfather who he has been brought

:44:51.:44:55.

up by for the last 16 years. So it is his stepfather rather than his

:44:56.:45:00.

biological father who I'm here speaking on behalf. OK. I mean Dean

:45:01.:45:07.

made his way, it was his second time out. He went there last year and he

:45:08.:45:12.

was there for the last three or four months this time. He made his way to

:45:13.:45:20.

the front line against Isis. And found himself fighting fierce

:45:21.:45:27.

battles going on which is the town which the Kurdish forces with the

:45:28.:45:35.

air support of the Americans are to take before Raqqa the main head

:45:36.:45:38.

quarters and he was behind a wall. He was shot.

:45:39.:45:46.

A Kurdish woman fighter from the word PJ, she came to his aid, and

:45:47.:45:54.

tragically both of them were hit by an RPG rocket from the icy side. And

:45:55.:46:04.

he died. Both of them died. -- YPJ. Why was he there? Why did he want to

:46:05.:46:10.

go there and fight? Like a lot of these fighters... You interviewed me

:46:11.:46:15.

one year ago on BBC news 24, when the first UK fighter died, we are on

:46:16.:46:26.

the second anniversary of the taking of these Edy genocide, today is the

:46:27.:46:34.

second anniversary, and if you follow the situation very closely,

:46:35.:46:41.

people cannot be anything but impressed by the heroic actions of

:46:42.:46:48.

these heroic fighters. We talk about the latest Isis attack in Germany

:46:49.:47:05.

and Nice. -- Yazidis. Speaking with his stepfather, he had a very

:47:06.:47:10.

intense interest in military matters, and he tried to join the

:47:11.:47:13.

British Army, but he could not because he had mild asthma. I think

:47:14.:47:20.

that watching the rise of Isis, coupled with his interest in

:47:21.:47:24.

military matters led him to the front lines, which is where

:47:25.:47:29.

tragically he has lost his life. Are there many like him, Brits fighting

:47:30.:47:37.

in this this way? I salute his courage, and to go back to a

:47:38.:47:40.

battlefield twice, that takes real guts, for a young man from Reading.

:47:41.:47:45.

I absolutely do not recommend this for anybody. The Foreign Office

:47:46.:47:49.

direction on this is absolutely right, do not do it, if you want to

:47:50.:47:54.

help, join the Army, I know that Dean could not, and maybe the Army

:47:55.:47:59.

should look at that for courageous people like him, exactly the sort of

:48:00.:48:04.

people we want in the Army, if you cannot, will some charities, medical

:48:05.:48:07.

charities that I work with in Syria and Iraq, medics under fire, they

:48:08.:48:13.

would love this kind of support. When I am in northern Iraq, working

:48:14.:48:17.

with the Peshmerga, I occasionally meet foreign fighters who are there,

:48:18.:48:22.

but if you are not fully trained, getting on a battlefield like this,

:48:23.:48:26.

whatever your motivation for doing it, and we all want to fight against

:48:27.:48:31.

Islamic State and see the end of it but it is not the way to do it, you

:48:32.:48:36.

need to be properly trained and equipped to be on a battlefield like

:48:37.:48:40.

this. What would it be like for an individual like him to arrive in

:48:41.:48:43.

that environment and find their way to the front line, what would he

:48:44.:48:48.

have been encountering? A huge challenge, I do not know the YPJ

:48:49.:48:53.

very well at all, the Syrian Kurds, the Iraqi Kurds, the Peshmerga, I

:48:54.:48:56.

know them very well. You can fly very easily there are, three-hour

:48:57.:49:02.

flight from the UK, there are British military personnel, the 1st

:49:03.:49:05.

Battalion of the rifles are there, training the Peshmerga at the

:49:06.:49:09.

moment. The Peshmerga are doing an amazing job. What we have two

:49:10.:49:14.

remember, the Kurdish are our boots on the ground, the British public

:49:15.:49:18.

have very clearly articulated they do not want to see British boots on

:49:19.:49:22.

the ground in Iraq and Syria to defeat Islamic State, therefore we

:49:23.:49:26.

must do all that we can to support them, the activities of Dean and

:49:27.:49:30.

others, although slightly misguided, absolutely right, what we should be

:49:31.:49:36.

asking is, what should we be doing more, what should the British

:49:37.:49:40.

government be doing more, the international coalition, what more

:49:41.:49:43.

should be done to make sure the Kurdish are properly equipped,

:49:44.:49:46.

supported and trained to carry out the battle on the ground that week,

:49:47.:49:50.

democratically, do not want to do ourselves. Anchor

:49:51.:49:56.

In Europe, Germany is deploying troops on the streets for the first

:49:57.:50:10.

time since the Second World War. In France, as well as increased

:50:11.:50:13.

security on the street, dozens of much anticipated events have been

:50:14.:50:16.

cancelled because of concerns that there would not be adequate

:50:17.:50:27.

security. Here in Britain, the Met Police and the London Mayor Sadiq

:50:28.:50:29.

Khan have said there will be more armed officers at prominent

:50:30.:50:35.

landmarks in the capital. In Nice, where 84 people were killed after a

:50:36.:50:38.

man crashed a lorry into a large crowd who were celebrating Bastille

:50:39.:50:40.

day, the council has abandoned plans for open air concerts on August

:50:41.:50:43.

15th. In Marseille, they've cancelled a show by the equivalent

:50:44.:50:46.

of the French Red Arrows which was set for August the 13th. And in the

:50:47.:50:51.

capital Paris, where last November, gunmen and suicide bombers killed

:50:52.:50:53.

130 people, they've cancelled a basketball tournament, a popular

:50:54.:50:55.

open air film festival, and called off plans to turn the Champs Elysees

:50:56.:50:56.

into a car-free zone for 24 hours. With me now is Tom Jenkins, Chief

:50:57.:51:00.

executive, at the European Tour Operation Association. And joining

:51:01.:51:06.

us from Nice is Vincent Rozeron, a journalist from French Newspaper

:51:07.:51:11.

Nice Matin and we're also joined by Francois Navarro, Managing Director

:51:12.:51:13.

of Paris Region Tourist Board. First of all, if I can come to you, you

:51:14.:51:20.

are a journalist in Nice, what impact has the attack had, what

:51:21.:51:23.

changes you are seeing, what cancellations? The drama, the

:51:24.:51:36.

concert on the 15th of July, Rihanna, that has been cancelled.

:51:37.:51:40.

The Nice jazz festival, that has been cancelled. In the city next to

:51:41.:51:54.

it. Juan-les-Pins, they're jazz festival has been cancelled, and the

:51:55.:51:59.

fireworks, that has been cancelled as well. What is the atmosphere, are

:52:00.:52:06.

holiday-makers going about holidays as usual, does it feel different? It

:52:07.:52:12.

feels different, there is still a lot of tourists everywhere. After

:52:13.:52:22.

the drama, people have said that Nice is becoming empty. That is not

:52:23.:52:26.

true, there is a lot of people in the streets, because it is the

:52:27.:52:31.

French Riviera, a lot of people, but still, there is less than expected,

:52:32.:52:35.

of course. You represent the region of Paris, the tourism board,

:52:36.:52:46.

Francois, are you seeing visible changes? We are noticing that

:52:47.:52:48.

everything is done by the authorities to protect tourists in

:52:49.:52:55.

Paris. All the main museums and monuments, the department stores,

:52:56.:53:00.

train stations, even the airports. Paris is back to business. We have

:53:01.:53:05.

less tourist, of course, but everything is back to normal. When

:53:06.:53:12.

you say less tourist, how much of the numbers falling? If you add up

:53:13.:53:19.

Japanese and American visitors and Chinese visitors, I think we are

:53:20.:53:26.

less ten or 15% for the high season, of course there is an impact, but

:53:27.:53:34.

Paris is still Paris. The impact is real, we cannot deny it, but we

:53:35.:53:40.

think that next autumn, everything will be back to normal. When you say

:53:41.:53:44.

specifically Japanese, American and Chinese tourist, is that because

:53:45.:53:49.

they are the nationalities who are mostly staying away? Yes, Chinese

:53:50.:53:56.

visitors are very impacted by this issue. In Japan, security is

:53:57.:54:05.

something very important. We have less 60 persons in Paris, that is

:54:06.:54:12.

very important and huge. Talking about American Chinese visitors, it

:54:13.:54:18.

is not the same impact. American visitors, 10%. --

:54:19.:54:24.

-- Japanese is the worst market for us at the moment, we have less 60%.

:54:25.:54:33.

The markets are reacting strongly, that is good for us. John Jenkins,

:54:34.:54:38.

you are from the European tour operators Association, how are you

:54:39.:54:41.

looking at this? I would echo what has been said by Francois, naturally

:54:42.:54:46.

when you look at long haul visitors coming into Europe, they see it as

:54:47.:54:53.

Europe, and if an incident happens in France, it impacts the UK and

:54:54.:54:59.

Germany as well. Overall, we are seeing a drop in demand from America

:55:00.:55:07.

and Japan and China, roughly 15%. It is a measurable impact, it has to be

:55:08.:55:11.

said. 15% here in the UK, same across the board. Translate that

:55:12.:55:20.

into what it can potentially mean for businesses? If you are

:55:21.:55:23.

unreliable upon American and Japanese business, you will be

:55:24.:55:25.

seeing a significant shortfall, the thing to realise is that normally,

:55:26.:55:31.

the impact at such events is temporary, we would expect,

:55:32.:55:36.

particularly nowadays, with consumers much more sophisticated

:55:37.:55:42.

than they were ten, 15, 20 years ago, we would see a shortfall in

:55:43.:55:47.

bookings of about six, seven weeks. After that period, things bounce

:55:48.:55:54.

back. I would hope that the season from September onwards will see a

:55:55.:55:57.

sick of the conductor and, particularly with the stronger

:55:58.:56:01.

dollar. Obviously the summer season is particularly important in the

:56:02.:56:12.

area where you are. Of course, people wait for this season, because

:56:13.:56:20.

it is where tourists come. It is very big here. Are the tourists

:56:21.:56:28.

reassured by the visible presence of security on some beaches, even, in

:56:29.:56:33.

the south of France? I don't know about that. The security has been

:56:34.:56:42.

reinforced since the 14th of July, in the airport, for example, there

:56:43.:56:47.

is a military force which has been doubled. The national police have

:56:48.:56:59.

more power now. Tom, you said about your expectation and hope that a

:57:00.:57:07.

downturn would be short lived. Desperately sad and sensational in

:57:08.:57:12.

some ways, the incidence we have had in Paris and Nice, but they must be

:57:13.:57:18.

seen in the context of 80 million foreign visitors going to France

:57:19.:57:22.

every year. Statistically, your chance of being caught up in

:57:23.:57:28.

anything is almost zero. I think that gradually, the reality creeps

:57:29.:57:34.

in to the marketplace, people genuinely discount the kind of scare

:57:35.:57:38.

stories we are getting at the moment. I have every confidence that

:57:39.:57:44.

the market will return, it always does. Thank you very much

:57:45.:57:47.

with joining us. Breaking news to bring new there has been an incident

:57:48.:57:55.

at the main airport in to buy, and Emirates flight has crash landed

:57:56.:57:59.

from India, 275 passengers were on board. -- at the main airport in day

:58:00.:58:10.

by. -- at the main airport in Dubai. Emirates has an excellent safety

:58:11.:58:13.

record. Emergency services are there, the latest coming up on that

:58:14.:58:17.

and all the rest of the news on BBC newsroom live. Thank you for your

:58:18.:58:21.

company today, have a lovely afternoon.

:58:22.:58:24.

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