28/11/2017 Victoria Derbyshire

Hello, it's Tuesday,

it's 9 o'clock, I'm Chloe Tilley

in for Victoria Derbyshire,

welcome to the programme.

Our top story today -

The UK has some of the highest

levels of stillbirth and early

deaths among small babies

in western Europe -

and now the health service

in England is going to be asked

to take some action

When I talked to parents whose heart

has been broken by something that

has gone wrong in those very small

numbers of cases, what they say is

it's not about the money, they just

want to know that the NHS has

learned from what went wrong.

We'll get reaction from parents

who've experienced problems

with their childs birth.

Also on the programme -

taking the law into their own hands

or encouraging people to stand up

for their own rights?

The housing rights activists

encouraging direct action

against bad landlords who let people

rent homes like this

Boiler, electric, I dread to think

what it's like. And if you are a

landlord or a private renter

landlord or

if you're a landlord or private

renter - really keen

to hear your own experiences.

We've seen the ring,

we've heard the love story...standby

for a prolonged period of Harry

and Meghan madness

Welcome to the programme,

we're live until 11.

Latest breaking news and developing

stories throughout the morning -

of the Chennai Six.

And in the last few hours they have

been released...we'll

get reaction shortly.

Do get in touch on all the stories

we're talking about this morning -

use the hashtag Victoria LIVE

and If you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate.

Our top story today.

New measures are to be introduced

to reduce the number of deaths

and serious injuries

during childbirth in England.

For the first time, parents

of stillborn babies are to be

routinely offered an independent

investigation into what went wrong.

The UK has already reduced

the mortality rate for babies

but still lags behind many other

European countries.

Here's our Health Correspondent,

Dominic Hughes.

Losing twins during pregnancy,

and then having baby

Hugo very prematurely,

means Rachel understands

all too well the challenges

childbirth can present.

Her experience has taught her that

parents and medical staff need to be

more aware of when things

could go wrong.

I think it's education of pregnant

women to never be afraid to ask

questions and raise concerns.

And it's also the medical

establishment in

encouraging them to do so.

Now, the Health Secretary in England

is announcing rather

than hospitals carrying

out their own investigations

when things go wrong an independent

review will be carried out instead.

When I talk to parents whose heart

has been broken by something that

has gone wrong in those very small

numbers of cases, what they say

is it's not about the money,

they just want to know that the NHS

has learned from what went wrong

so that that same mistakes isn't

ever going to happen again.

The UK lags behind many other

European countries when it comes

to preventing baby deaths

and premature births.

There are around nine

stillborn babies every day.

Roughly 50 women still die

in England each year from issues

related to pregnancy.

And around 50,000 babies

are born prematurely.

Progress is being made,

but there are concerns

that difficult lessons

are not being learned.

Rachel is in the BBC

Newsroom with a summary

of the rest of the days news.

Details of Prince Harry

and Meghan Markle's wedding

are expected to be announced today.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has

indicated the couple

will have a church wedding,

saying the pair had "chosen

to make their vows to God"

in a religious ceremony.

The couple announced

their engagement yesterday.

The fact that I fell in love

with Meghan so incredibly quickly,

was confirmation to me that

all the stars were aligned,

everything was perfect.

This beautiful woman tripped

and fell into my life,

I fell into her life.

And the fact that she will be

unbelievably good at the job part

of it as well is obviously a huge

relief to me, because she will be

able to deal with everything

else that comes with it.

The only airport on the Indonesian

island of Bali has been closed

for a second day amid concerns

of a volcanic eruption.

Massive plumes of smoke and ash have

been spewing out of Mount Agung

over the past few days.

Rebecca Henschke sent this report

from near the volcano.

mantle volcano is sending out thick

clouds of ash, smoke and gas behind

me with increasing intensity. --

Mount Agung. Last night you could

see a red low in the crater which we

are told means the Labour and molten

rock has reached the summit. People

have been told to get out of the

area, a 12 kilometre radius around

the volcano, table still staying in

their homes, officials today are

going to move in and forcibly take

things out of the danger zone. At

the moment there are farmers down

below in the rice paddies and the

Valley people are going about their

life. They view this mountain as a

sacred site but now they are

watching it very colourfully and are

on high alert for an imminent

eruption.

Six British men have been released

from an Indian prison four years

after they were arrested and charged

with smuggling weapons

into the country.

The men had been convicted

of the charges in 2016 and sentenced

to five years in prison.

But yesterday, an Indian court

threw out all charges

and ordered their release.

When it comes to aspiration

and opportunity England is becoming

increasingly divided according

to a new report.

The Social Mobility Commission says

London and the south-east

are still the best place

for disadvantaged children

to progress, whilst some

rural and coastal areas

are frequently left behind.

Adina Campbell reports.

It all started with me wanting to do

something.

More than a third of

children here in Nottingham claim

school meals and overall young

people face some of the biggest

barriers to succeeding in life

according to the social mobility

commission. At the school is working

hard to change that.

It makes me so

proud to have this medal.

We have

learning mentors in school, families

have support with attendance,

reading at home, it all comes

together to give the children a

springboard into the rest of the

curriculum.

In its latest report the

commission says prospects for young

people vary in almost all parts of

the UK. It says two thirds of the

areas in which young people have the

best prospects of success are now in

London while many rural, coastal and

former industrial areas are being

left further behind. With the

Midlands the worst performing region

in England. It's not just children

from poor backgrounds here in the

East Midlands who may face some

challenges. Only a fifth of those in

work have senior or professional

jobs.

You're not really pushed in, I

wouldn't say colleges are that good,

I didn't feel they encourage me.

Around here not many people want to

give opportunities to people, if you

are already in the job you can

progress higher but if you are not

and haven't got any background,

people are like, sorry.

Relax your

shoulders... The government says it

is making progress and social

mobility with one pointed million

more children in good or outstanding

schools than 2010 and the National

living wage helping to boost

salaries.

The Pope will meet

the de-facto Myanmar leader,

Aung San Suu Kyi, later -

on the second day of his

visit to the country.

Last night the former

Nobel Peace Prize winner

was stripped of the Freedom

of Oxford because of

what councillors called her inaction

in the face of the oppression

of Rohingya Muslims, many

of whom have fled to Bangladesh.

Pope Francis is expected

to highlight the plight

of the persecuted minority

group later today.

The government has handed

over its analysis of some

of the economic impacts of Brexit -

but the reports are

missing some details.

The Brexit Secretary David Davis

says the documents have been

redacted to leave out commercially

sensitive market information.

But Labour are insisting the public

should be given all the detail.

The Bank of England has

published its fourth

annual stress test -

its assessment of how UK financial

institutions would deal

with a sharp downturn.

It's concluded that Britain's banks

could cope with what it called

a 'disorderly Brexit.' It's also

the first time since the tests

were introduced that none

of the country's major lenders have

been assessed as requiring

extra capital.

This year's test results show the

banking system would be well placed

to provide credit to households and

businesses even during simultaneous

deep recessions in the UK and the

doable economy is, large falls in

asset prices and a very large

stressed misconduct cost.

Newly declassified MI5 files have

revealed that John Profumo,

the former Conservative Minister

of War, had a long

affair with a Nazi spy.

The politician was forced to resign

in 1963 after he was found

to have shared a mistress -

Christine Keeler -

with a Soviet spy in London.

Cases of scarlet fever have reached

a fifty year high in England.

Newly published research shows

there were over nineteen-thousand

cases of the illness reported last

year, mostly in schools

and nurseries, although it's not

clear what's behind the increase.

That's a summary of the latest BBC

News - more at 9.30.

In the next human is, we would be

talking about a union planning

direct action against ad landlords.

If you are a private renter or a

landlord I would love you to watch

the report and tell us what you

think.

Do get in touch with us

throughout the morning -

use the hashtag Victoria LIVE

and If you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate.

Let's get some sport.

Jessica Crichton is here.

It's that time of year again, sports

personality, talk us through the

candidates.

Good morning. Exciting.

I can reveal who was on the list,

the nominees from last night. We

will show you them now. Now and the

17th of December, these 12 British

sports legends will be focused on

one thing. Winning the public vote

for this prestigious award. You are

seeing the nominees in alphabetical

order, BBC takes this seriously, not

to give Njie prominence to any

political -- sporting candidate.

Similar to the elections, actually.

It will be held in the Liverpool

Arena. The public will vote for

their favoured by phone and online

during the live show. In addition to

the main prize there will be awards

like coach of the year. Team of the

year. Let's look at those

candidates. Starting with Elise

Christie from Scotland. The first

European woman to win the 1000 metre

and 15,000 meter and overall titles

at the World Championships. What a

year it's been for Sir Mo Farah,

retiring from the track in style

after winning gold and silver at the

World Championships in London in the

summer. Chris Froome won his fourth

Tour de France title this year and

Lewis Hamilton becoming the most

successful British Formula One

driver last month, four world titles

to his name. Anthony Joshua... The

world heavyweight title win against

Wladimir Klitschko. Really made his

name this year. What a fight.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane on the

list, fantastic year, winning the

Premier League's Golden Boot.

British tennis represented by

Johanna Konta, lost to Venus

Williams in the Wimbledon semifinal

last summer. He might not have lost

his way to the strictly glitter ball

but Jonnie Peacock is a contender

after winning another 100 meter gold

at the World Championships in July.

Adam Peaty one two Bristol gold

medals at the World Championships,

smashing his own world record and

Jonathan Ray from Northern Ireland

made motorbike history in September

becoming the first rider to win

three successive world Superbike

titles. What an amazing year for

England's winning cricketers --

women cricketers. And yet Shrubsole

part of the whole World Cup winning

team. Bianca walked and made up for

disappointment in real in the best

possible way, retaining her World

Championship title. Incredible list.

No Andy Murray on the list this

year. Victorious last time around.

There will be a new name on the

trophy. Pictures from last year,

Andy Murray alongside the former

British boxer heavyweight champion

Lennox Lewis who presented him with

the award. He couldn't make the

ceremony last year, out in Miami

resting up after the end of the

tennis season. No Andy Murray on the

list this year, there will be a new

name on the trophy, the ceremony

live in Liverpool on the 17th of

December.

Can't wait. Turn off,

Jess. He has to give someone else a

chance. -- fair enough.

A group of housing activists

is targeting landlords

across the UK, who it says

are exploiting vulnerable

people with poor housing.

Acorn - is a union for tenants

who rent privately.

They say enough is enough and that

renters should no longer have to put

up with poor sub standard

housing and treatment.

They use direct action to tackle

what they see as bad landlords.

But are they encouraging people to

stand up for their rights or taking

the law into its own hands?

Andy Smythe went to meet them.

Across the country, private

tenants are fighting back.

The first couple of times

I woke up here, I thought,

have I (BLEEP) the bed?

That's how damp it is in here.

I don't feel safe at all.

I feel terrified.

I don't even want to

come home any more.

They're building an army to wage

war on bad landlords.

Are you kind of vigilantes?

According to some

landlords, yes, we are.

Turn your thing off, OK?

They're planning

a conquest of our cities.

Thank you very much.

What's your name?

I suppose we kind of

are selling something.

We're selling them a union.

Sorry to bother you.

To give power to the people

they said felt powerless.

These landlords are doing

whatever they want.

They think they're above the law.

And sometimes, yes, people need

to stand up to them and say,

no, this is not right.

They're Acorn, a new union set up

to encourage private tenants

to stand up for their rights.

Do you want to speak to the police?

Not particularly, no.

We've come to meet

this guy, Callum Hay.

He's been renting a flat

from the same landlord

for more than two years.

He says he's gone weeks

sometimes without any

electricity, and no front door.

But when we arrive,

the police are here.

So we go back later.

Yeah, I'm at the point

where I don't trust anybody.

The rent here's just over

£500 a month including

electricity and water.

Today, Callum says is he's had

an actual fight with his landlord.

It's not really showing much

bruising yet, but that is definitely

going to bruise, because it's sore.

You can see it bruising down there.

The landlord's account?

There was no fight.

Callum attacked him.

And apparently, according

to the police, he's

saying I hurt his finger.

Was that when he was punching me?

Fuming.

Scared.

Six.

Sick.

Because I've now got the worry

that he might come back.

I've got the worry that he might

attempt to hurt me

while Callum is working.

And I don't feel safe at all.

I feel terrified.

I don't even want to

come home any more.

I'd rather stay at

work and sleep there.

Callum and Zena live

here with their two dogs and a lot

of flies.

Callum says because of

the former takeaway

people next door throwing rotting

carcasses into the yard.

They've now stopped paying any rent

because they say they weren't

even getting the basics.

Boiler, electric, front door.

You had no front door?

The three basics.

I've never had no front door

since I've been here.

Although the electrician's found

that problem, I dread to think

what it's like in there.

I mean, the mould situation

is probably not good for us.

And what is the mould situation?

I mean, in here it's not so much

mould, it's just obvious damp.

But in the bedroom...

You're not likely to be able

to see it without a light.

When did the electric go?

May be two weeks after we moved in.

That's what constitutes

our secure door.

That's as good as it gets.

That's the lovely black mould.

And if you look on the ceiling,

where the mould is is where

the water's pooling but not sitting

on the joists.

This is probably the worst bit here.

The landlord told us

he wants to do the repairs,

but workmen are refusing

to until Callum cleans up.

We only really started standing up

to him over the boiler leaking,

and that was after about a year.

And then when the electric went,

because he hadn't paid the bill

for the two years we've been here,

like that was when we've really

started to lay into him,

that was when we got hold of Acorn.

This is one of the

founders of Acorn.

We felt that there was a need

for a community organisation that

would represent local people

on political issues without being

tied to political parties.

It's got members like a workers'

union, but Acorn fights

for private tenants' rights.

They'll protest.

They'll go round landlords' houses.

There'll publicly shame them

because of what they feel

is a housing crisis.

Rising rents, poor conditions,

evictions, this kind of thing.

But Bristol has seen certainly very

steep rent increases over the past

three or four years.

In some areas of Bristol,

we saw increases of nearly

30% in a single year.

But other cities have

different problems.

So Acorn grew.

So we're just heading over

to Darnall, which is a part

of the city with quite a lot

of renters in it.

The kind of issues that we hear

about are mainly things

like illegal evictions,

things like a lot of problems

with damp, broken boilers, rats,

and a lot of landlords that are not

doing their job to fix those issues.

Sheffield's got a high proportion

of rental properties and students.

Fertile ground for housing problems.

A battle ground for

housing activists.

The problem with the housing crisis

is that a lot of it's quite hidden,

but sometimes just walking around

places like this,

it's pretty obvious.

So, yeah, up there, massive leak.

Not only is that destroying

the home, that's probably causing

like a massive damp issue

inside the house.

Acorn is growing fast

here as a result of a lot

of old school canvassing.

Right, I'll leave you to it.

What's your house like the moment?

People have mentioned things

like the landlord's not

doing repairs on time,

or things like just the cost of rent

is just like going up every year.

I haven't got central heating.

You haven't got central heating?

No.

Wow.

If you had a problem,

what would you do?

And they are effective.

In the summer, this many

turned up to barricade

a vulnerable woman's house.

They stopped her being evicted.

It is a question of power, really.

As long as there's a group of people

that own the houses and a group

of people that rent from them,

there's always going to be

an imbalance of power there.

Another person who has

been helped is Sarah.

She didn't want to

give us her surname.

She said she had unwanted sexual

advances from the landlord,

who lived in the same house.

Touching, groping.

He'd grope my ass, he brushed

across my breasts, he tried

to kiss me a few times.

That's more than enough.

Sarah's landlord denied the claims.

Absolutely shockingly disgusting,

I just did not want to be near him.

Didn't want to be in the house.

Didn't want to be anywhere near him,

I just wanted to get out,

and it just got worse and worse,

and I said I was completely

uncomfortable with the situation

and want him to back off

and leave me alone.

So he changed my six month contract

to a month contract.

And then from that, tried

to instantly evict me.

He can't.

It's illegal to instantly evict you.

It is illegal to

instantly evict you.

He's got a duty of care, not only

to you, but to your belongings.

The landlord was threatening

to kick her out simply

because he did not got anywhere

with her, with some

of his sexual advances.

She was probably about 12 hours away

from being homeless.

So not only did we take action

to make sure the landlord didn't

kick her and her stuff out

on the street, we also provided some

solidarity to support her

where she had to go back

into her house to get her stuff.

People like that, they are bullying

landlords, and we are just not

going to take any more.

What was life like

as a renting tenant?

Everything is a pain in the ass.

And you never, you're never

particularly secure.

Well, you're not, because you've

not got a front door.

No.

His landlord says the door's now

fixed, but Callum's worst period

was when his electricity

was completely cut off.

My partner then shouted at him

that if he doesn't get

the electric put back on,

there's going to be held to pay,

and then he turned round and said,

I hope you die in here.

The landlord denies saying that.

Bristol City Council

gave the landlord 28

days to pay his bill,

but Acorn went round his house

to demand he did it sooner.

We said that we would keep coming

back until it was resolved.

That was on a Friday,

and on the Monday, the electric

was turned back on, so we definitely

get the results.

There are bigger battles.

Recently, they've succeeded

in getting the council to scrap

plans to start making the city's

poorest residents play council tax.

Today, though, it's

Amina who needs help.

She's a working mother of four,

living in this house.

What are the biggest problems?

The biggest problems is damp

and the mouse walking

around on the walls.

And the kitchen, that's the worst.

You have mice in your kitchen?

In the kitchen, and they live

in the sleep rooms.

And tell me how much you pay

for your house every month.

I pay £850.

£850?

Yes.

With damp and mice?

Yes.

Acorn are going out

of the landlord's home

to deliver him a letter.

Asked him to appoint qualified

independent damp specialists

and contractors to fix

other outstanding issues.

We want it booked by Monday,

or we will take further action.

Amina has fought this for two years.

Her friend has the same

landlord, same problems.

For two years is

enough, it's enough.

It's not acceptable.

This house?

He's not got any damp problems!

They say that he's not here.

Can you come and take the letter?

There's a bit of argy-bargy.

What does collective action mean?

Does it mean basically taking

the law into your own hands?

It means acting together in support

of a particular individual

or where people have got a similar

problem, acting

together to solve it.

It doesn't mean breaking the law.

We are an entirely

law-abiding organisation.

It's not fair.

Shall we just put it in the postbox?

Because you've got to go

to work soon, haven't you?

We are trying to get him to sort

out his obligations to his tenants,

who are getting poorly because he's

letting them live in

horrible conditions.

What did she say?

They're saying that we have

no right to be here.

We do.

They're saying that it's

nothing to do with them.

We're just pointing out

that all we wanted to do

was to give them the letter.

He's given us no choice.

We've tried to do

this through e-mail.

We've tried to do it

through phone calls.

We've tried every other thing.

He won't listen to us.

Which is why we bringing it

to his attention now.

Excuse me?

Do you want to speak to the police?

Not particularly, no.

They don't like it

when we come here.

And how do you feel?

I feel...

Now I feel happy.

I don't know why.

Do you get a lot of stick

off the landlords?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I think we're

public enemy number one,

and the reason for that is we're not

afraid to name and shame them,

put them on the spot.

He doesn't deserve to

rent out properties.

We'll get reaction from

landlords after 10am.

We are really keen to hear your

views on this too throughout

the programme.

Get in touch in the usual ways.

Heidi got in touch on Facebook, "You

should not have to put up with that

from any landlord. The trouble is

there aren't enough affordable

council homes. Landlords do what

they want and us tenants are always

one step away from being homeless if

the rent goes up." Karen says, "My

husband and I own properties that we

rent out. We're not rich. It's our

pension really. We're bit fed-up

being picked on all the time. There

are bad landlords, but there are

also bad tenants." Mark says, "I am

a landlord with 11 properties in the

south-west. I think the Acorn is in

essence very good. The harassment in

landlords will result in some

leaving the sector, so who is p

going to house these people if that

happens? Landlords are not allowed

to harass tenants who don't pay the

rent or damage the property. Tenants

are always seen as innocent victims.

So level playing field, please.

Reporting on this subject has to be

balanced. How about a separate

report covering violent, dirty,

abusive and non paying tenants?" We

will be speaking to a landlord after

10am this morning to get his

prospective on this.

Still to come:

# Love is in the air.

#

The ring, the chicken

dinner, the corgis,

dinner, the corgis,

we'll replay the best bits

from Harry and Meghan's

interview just before 10am.

Walkden

And as the so called Chennai 6

are released from jail we'll

speak to one of the men -

Billy Irving - who's

been in jail since 2013.

Time for the latest

news - here's Rachel.

the BBC News headlines this morning.

New measures are to be introduced

to reduce the number of deaths

and serious injuries

during childbirth in England.

For the first time, parents

of stillborn babies are to be

routinely offered an independent

investigation into what went wrong.

The UK has already reduced

the mortality rate for babies

but still lags behind many

other European countries.

More details of Prince Harry

and Meghan Markle's wedding

are expected to be announced today.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has

indicated the couple

will have a church wedding,

saying the pair had "chosen

to make their vows to God"

in a religious ceremony.

The couple announced

their engagement yesterday.

The fact that I fell in love with

Megan so incredibly quickly was

confirmation to me that all the

stars were aligned, everything was

just perfect, this beautiful woman

literally tripped and fell into my

life, I fell into her life, the fact

that I know she will be unbelievably

good at the job part of that as well

is obviously a huge relief to me

because she'll be able to deal with

everything else that comes with

that.

The only airport on the Indonesian

island of Bali has been closed

for a second day amid concerns

of an imminent volcanic eruption.

Massive plumes of smoke and ash have

been spewing out of Mount Agung

over the past few days.

Up to 100,000 people have been

ordered to evacuate the vicinity.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled

and thousands of travellers

were stranded after the airport

was initially closed on Monday.

Six British men have been released

from an Indian prison four years

after they were arrested and charged

with smuggling weapons

into the country.

The men had been convicted

of the charges in 2016 and sentenced

to five years in prison.

But yesterday, an Indian court

threw out all charges

and ordered their release.

When it comes to aspiration

and opportunity England is becoming

increasingly divided according

to a new report.

The Social Mobility Commission says

London and the south-east

are still the best place

for disadvantaged children

to progress, whilst those

in the midlands and coastal areas

have the least opportunities.

The Pope will meet

the de-facto Myanmar leader,

Aung San Suu Kyi, later -

on the second day of his

visit to the country.

Human rights organisations have it

appealed to him to express support

for the Rohingya people.

The government has handed

over its analysis of some

of the economic impacts of Brexit -

but the reports are

missing some details.

The Brexit Secretary David Davis

says the documents have been

redacted to leave out commercially

sensitive market information.

But Labour are insisting the public

should be given all the detail.

The Bank of England has

published its fourth

annual stress test -

its assessment of how UK financial

institutions would deal

with a sharp downturn.

It's concluded that Britain's banks

could cope with what it called

a 'disorderly Brexit.' It's also

the first time since the tests

were introduced that none

of the country's major lenders have

been assessed as requiring

extra capital.

That's a summary of

the latest BBC News.

Here's some sport now with Jess.

Starting with cricket and Ben Stokes

is apparently on his way down under

but not to join the Ashes squad, he

was spotted at Heathrow Airport but

the ECB says he is paying a visit to

his family. Sam Alla dies is the

leading contender to take over at

Everton, they've lost five of their

last seven games since Ronald Koeman

left. Karen Carney has withdrawn

from the England squad after

injuring an ankle. England have won

the first two qualifiers. And

veteran forward Chris Hannington has

been recalled for England for the

Rugby league World Cup final against

Australia. James Roby starts at

hooker. That's all for now.

The NHS in England must do better

at learning from mistakes to cut

the number of baby deaths

and injuries in childbirth.

That's the message from

the Health Secretary who's announced

that all cases of serious harm

or death during childbirth

in England, will be independently

investigated in future.

The UK has some of the highest

levels of stillbirth and early

deaths among small babies in western

Europe.

Earlier this year this programme

discovered that at least 1,000

mistakes are made in England's NHS

maternity units every week.

The most serious incidents include

the avoidable deaths of mothers

and babies as a result of errors

by midwives and doctors.

Our reporter Divya Talwa met

Sarah Ellis and her fiance Adam,

who lost their son Jeano.

An investigation by this programme

has found that at least a thousand

mistakes are occurring in England's

NHS maternity units each week.

Serious or adverse incidents

where an unexpected harm,

injury or death has happened.

It can be anything

from records being lost

to a mother or baby dying.

Last year alone there were 220

mistakes recorded every day.

We've also found that nearly

260 mothers and babies

died over four years.

These deaths were either unexpected

or could have been avoided.

Only 39 out of 81 trusts

responded to this question,

so the number of deaths

could be much higher.

Some of the other incidents we've

heard about include staff shortages,

wrong medicines being given

to patients, records

being lost and delays in care.

The NHS spends hundreds

of millions on compensation

pay-outs for blunders made

by maternity staff.

In 2015, it paid out more

than half a billion pounds.

So what's going wrong?

Royal College of Midwives said

safety is being compromised

because of the pressure our

maternity services are under.

Let's speak now to Bob Moran -

his daughter Poppy has cerebral

palsy after being starved

of oxygen during birth.

Amanda Braithwaite,

has had four children.

Her second, a girl, died

unexpectedly at birth.

And we also have

midwife Nichola Sanger.

She has 12 years experience as a

midwife.

Thank you all for joining us. Bob,

your daughter was starved of oxygen

during her birth and she has

cerebral palsy, explain to us what

happened.

Poppy was delivered

eventually by emergency Caesarean

and we knew straightaway that she

was in a bad way, she had to be

recessed stated in the theatre and

she was taken to intensive care. She

now struggles every day with

cerebral palsy and epilepsy, reduced

mobility, poor eyesight, she has

seizures at night which means she

doesn't sleep very well and we feel

like the whole thing could have been

avoided had we received appropriate

levels of care. We'd been in

hospital for 12 hours before she was

delivered. And it was eight hours

before they ran a CTG, on my wife to

trace the heartbeat.

That's a sort

of monitor, isn't it?

That should be

common practice to run a trace like

that when you go into hospital with

something wrong. So this

announcement, I think, families like

ours will welcome it, it seems like

a big step forward and it would be

very welcome news for all families

who have suffered an incident like

this.

Amanda, I want to bring you

in, you lost your second child, a

daughter, during childbirth. She was

resuscitated, wasn't she and

therefore you got an inquest. Did

that help you provide answers to

what had happened?

No, the inquest

was incredibly frustrating for us. I

was hoping to be able to sit in

front of the staff who were at the

hospital and ask questions which I

was able to do but unfortunately you

know, they had gone through a

sequence of events that have

happened and the doctor who

performed the postmortem was there

but the hospital had conveniently

lost a load of very important notes

which were blood tests, taken from

my daughter and myself on the day,

Korda samples, placenta samples by

the time the inquest came they only

had what was in the postmortem which

was nothing, there was absolutely

nothing wrong with her, she was a

full-term baby and there was

absolutely no reason for her death.

So we walked away with no answers.

So in some ways was that even more

frustrating for you because

presumably when you went to the

inquest you hoped to get those

answers?

Is, absolutely, I had

really hoped I could ask the

questions but somehow, when you are

faced with the shock and tragedy,

when you basically have the first

meeting with the staff after your

baby has died, you ask the questions

that come to mind but in the months

following you question everything. I

thought I could sit down and

actually write down some questions

and asked the coroner, as the

obstetrician who was there from the

hospital but I got nothing, I found

it very frustrating and at the end

of the day we walked away with a

verdict of natural causes and

there's absolutely nothing natural

about going into labour with a

full-term baby that you carried for

nine months, the labourer was

straightforward, textbook, something

that every mother wants, I was

elated when she was born and then it

all just unfolded and it was

absolutely devastating to watch my

daughter die in front of me and for

no reason, no one can still tell me

why it happened.

Bob, did you have a

sense, I don't want to put words in

your mouth Amanda, but I Shane Lowry

almost felt powerless and I wonder

Bob if you felt the same, although

you did not lose your daughter

clearly she was disabled by what

happened.

I can absolutely identify

with what Amanda is talking about in

terms of feeling powerless and being

desperate for answers about how did

we get to this point? I think there

have always been local

investigations into these incidents

and too often they have come up with

unsatisfying conclusions or no

conclusions. I think as a parent you

always carry a huge weight of

responsibility for anything that

happens to your child. Absolutely.

And that's really difficult and

you'll probably never be able to get

away from that but to have a trust

or a hospital hold-up hands and say

actually, we made huge mistakes and

this should never have happened.

Makes such a difference. We still

haven't ever had a formal apology

and like you, I wasn't monitored, I

had gone into hospital in labour, I

had waited in reception, they could

see I was in full bloom labour, I

could hardly stand, I waited around

for half an hour for a bed,

eventually I was told there was a

bed available to me, I couldn't

walk, I was calling because I was

ready to push, no one offered me a

future, no one helped me to my room

except I husband, I got onto the

bed, no one monitored me, did not

check my heart rate and only later

we realised if they have monitored

me they would have realised she was

in distress I would have gone in for

an emergency Caesarean and she

probably would have been absolutely

fine.

I want to bring in Nicola who

is listening. A midwife of 12 years,

I've been watching her expression is

listening to this and I can tell

it's difficult for you to listen to

this, I guess it's important to

point out it's a very small number

of babies that die each year in this

country, we are looking at 700,000

births and only 1000 of those

babies, not that bad is any comfort

to the families whatsoever like

Amanda who have been affected.

Absolutely, my heart goes out to

both of those families and all

families that go through those

experiences. It just comes down to,

both situations sound like it was a

busy unit, you don't want to be left

in labour at the top of the

Corredera, you should have been

welcomed and taken to your room.

It's a really difficult situation.

-- at the top of the corridor.

Each

hospital is so different. Do you

think it's important that

independent investigations will be

the way forward because we've heard

from Bob and Amanda local

investigations have taken place and

it seems like many parents don't

have faith in those?

I think you

cannot ignore that. I think that

needs to happen so for the families,

they get direct answers. As long as

these trusts are then helped, if

things are picked up, issues that

have arisen, it's not them becoming

more of a blame culture, these

trusts are helped to move forward

with maybe courses, more learning,

more direct help to help those

trusts, there may be issues that are

picked up from.

Bob, do you think an

independent investigation is key to

this that is being announced today?

I think we are a bit thin on detail.

One of the things I would like to

emphasise is that parents and

families, like us, who have been

through bad experiences should be

involved in having a say in how

these independent investigations

will work and you know, I certainly

think they need to involve

clinicians and experts in the same

way that you involve them with going

through the courts. At the moment,

if you take the route of going

through the courts, it's incredibly

drawn out. It is an incredibly

harrowing process. It's a difficult

thing for families to go through.

So, I think that is very important

for parents to be involved. I also

think as we've just heard, training

is really crucial in all of this.

I'm an ambassador for a charity Baby

Lifeline. They are driving the

change in providing new training for

clinicians about trying to provide

safer maternity care and one of the

biggest things that they have picked

up on is communication, break down

in communication between staff

within teams and across different

dplins, information is not being

disdisciplines, information is not

being carried across with patients

when they are transferred.

I wonder

if that comes back to what Nicola

was talking about a blame culture.

Is there a fear amongst NHS staff?

There is be defensive practise that

you see all the time. Often you lose

your autonomy because you are

frightened about what's going to

happen, but then you have the

stresses and strains of busy wards.

Of busy labour wards. I work out in

the community so I'm carrying a case

load and part of my job is to make

sure that the plan of care is in

place, but sometimes things happen.

Again, like, Bob just said,

miscommunication. People don't

attend appointments, all those

little things can make the big

picture hard, but also there is lots

of other women come in now with

other health complications. There is

lots of other factors that then put

more stresses on those labour wards

which there isn't always the right

equipment. There isn't always the

right technologies and the right

staff quantities then to be able to

care for everybody that's in that

labour ward because a low risk

person walks in and maybe they don't

get the care they should receive and

then tragic things happen like we

have been hearing about.

We are out

of time. I really appreciate you

sharing your store Chris this

morning.

Coming up, we'll be speaking

exclusively to one of the British

men released from an Indian prison,

four years after being arrested

and detained on weapons charges.

That's coming up just after 10am.

So we've heard the love story,

seen the ring and the beaming smiles

and now attention is turning

to exactly when and where

Prince Harry and Meghan

Markle will get married.

More details could be

released this afternoon.

During yesterday's joint interview

we learnt that the couple went

on holiday together after two dates.

They knew nothing about each other

when they first met.

They were set up on a blind date.

Prince Harry proposed over

a roast chicken dinner.

The queen's corgis

really like Meghan.

She'll give up her acting career.

For those of you who can't get

enough of it, here's that interview,

with a few more bits we've

not yet heard.

It happened a few weeks ago.

It was

a cosy night. We were roasting

chicken.

Trying to roast a chicken.

Just an amazing surprise. It was so

sweet and natural and very romantic.

He got on one knee.

Of course.

Was

it an instant yes from you?

Yes, as

a matter of fact I could barely let

you finish proposing.

She didn't let

me finish. "Can I say yes?" ?" There

were hugs. "Can I give you the

ring?" She was, "Ah, yes, the ring."

I think I managed to catch her by

surprise as well.

Had this is how

long after you first met?

It would

be a year-and-a-half, two, a little

bit more.

No, about a

year-and-a-half.

Which for most

people would be a whirlwind. Is that

how it felt to you?

I don't think I

would call it a whirlwind in terms

of our relationship. Obviously there

have been layers attached to how

public it has become after we had a

good five, six months almost with

just privacy which was amazing. But

no, I think, we were able to really

have so much time just to connect

and we never went longer than two

weeks without seeing each other even

though we were doing a long-distance

relationship. We made it work.

How

did you first meet?

We were

introduced by a mutual friend who

sfloops we shall protect her

privacy. Not too much of that. But

it was literally, it was through her

and then we met once and twice

back-to-back two dates in London.

Last July.

Yes.

Beginning of July.

And then it was, I think, about

three, maybe four weeks later, that

I managed to persuade her to come

and join me in bat swan that and we

camped out with each other under the

stars and we spent, she joined me

for five days out there which was

fantastic. Then we were really by

ourselves which was crucial to me to

make sure we had a chance to get to

know each other.

The friend who

introduced you, was she trying to

set you-up?

Yes.

It was a blind

date.

We talk about it and even then

because I'm from the States, you

don't grow up with the same

understanding of the Royal Family

and so, while I know and understand

clearly there is a global interest

there. I don't know much about him

and so the only thing I had asked

her when she said she wanted to set

us up, I said, "Is he nice?" If he

wasn't kind it just didn't, it

didn't seem like it would make

sense.

How much did you, Prince

Harry, know about Meghan? Had you

seen her on TV?

I hadn't heard about

her until this friend said Meghan

Markle. I was right, OK, give me a

bit of background. What's going on

here? I had never watched Suits and

never heard of Meghan before. I was

beautifully surprised when I walked

into that room and saw her and there

she was sitting there. I was like

OK, I'm going to have to really up

my game here! And make sure I have

got a good chat.

In the case of your

relationship, there is a layer of

what it means to get involved with

someone from the Royal Family. How

much of a sense did you have, Meghan

of the enormity of what you were

getting into and what it might mean

for your life

I can safely say as

naive as it sounds now having gone

through this learning curve in the

past year-and-a-half, I did not have

any understanding of just what it

would be like. I don't think...

I

tried to warn you as much as

possible, but I think both of us

were totally surprised by the

reaction after the first five or six

months that we had to ourselves of

what would actually happen from

then. You can have as many

conversations as you want and try

and prepare as much as possible, but

we were unprepared.

The scrutiny?

All sorts.

I think also because

there is a misconception that

because I have worked in the

entertainment industry that this

would be something I would be

familiar with, even though I was on

my show for six years and working

before that, I have never been part

of tabloid culture or pop culture to

that degree and lived relatively

quiet life even though I focus so

much on my job and so that was a

really stark difference out of the

gate.

Some of that scrutiny and you

ended up making a public statement

about it, some of the scrutiny was

centred around your ethnicity. When

you realised that, what did you

think?

Of course, it's

disheartening. It's a shame that

that is the climate in this world to

focus that much on that or that

would be discriminatory in that

sense, but I think, you know, at the

end of the day, I'm really proud of

who I am and where I come from and

we have never put any focus on that.

We've just focussed on who we are as

a couple.

It is an immense change.

You're getting a new country out of

it. A husband obviously, but also

giving up your career.

Yes. But I

don't see it as giving anything up.

I just see it as a change.

It's a

new challenge.

It's a new chapter,

right? And keep in minute I have

been working on my show for seven

years. So, we were very, very

fortunate to be able to have that

sort of longevity on a series and

for me once we hit the 100 episode

marker, I thought, you know what I

have, I have ticked this box and I

feel proud of the work I have done

there and it is time to work as a

team with you.

Meghan, given your

acting in the profile you had, you

had been an ambassador for UN women.

What about this new platform? What

do you want to do with it?

The same.

Can you imagine? I'm not a singer.

No, what has been really exciting as

we talk about the transition of this

out of my career, but into the role,

the causes that have been very

important to me, I can focus even

more energy on because very early

out of the gate, I think, you

realised once you have access or a

voice that people are willing to

listen to and with that comes

responsibility.

Meghan, your

parents, they are happy for you,

obviously, do you think they have

worried about the scale of what

you're getting into

I'm sure the

onset, both my parents and my close

friends were concerned because we

got very quickly swept up in a media

storm which was not part of my life

before that, but they also had never

seen me so happy and I think also

once my friends were able to really

meet Harry and my mum, who we spent

a lot of time with, who is so much

fun...

Her mum is amazing.

It was

just obvious that no matter what we

were being put through, that it was

just temporary and that we were

going to be able to get through

that. So everyone was really happy.

Harry has talked to my dad a few

times. He hasn't been able to meet

him yet. But it has been worth every

effort.

Children?

Not currently, no!

Of course, you know, I think, one

step at a time and hopefully we will

start a family in the near future.

And have you met the Queen?

I have,

yes. A couple of times.

Halfs that

like?

It's incredible. You know, A,

to be able to meet her through his

lens, not just with his honour and

respect for her as the monarch, but

the love that he has for her as his

grandmother. All of those layers

have been so important for me so

when I met her I had such a deep

understanding and of course,

incredible respect for being able to

have that time with her and we've

had a really, she is an incredible

woman.

And the corgis took to you

straightaway. I have spent the last

33 years being barked at and this

one walks in and nothing, wagging

tails.

Your ring...

Oh yes.

Tell us

about your ring.

The ring is

obviously yellow gold because that's

what her favourite. And the main

stone itself, I sourced from

Botswana and the little diamonds

either side are from my mother's

jewellery collection to make sure

she is with us on this crazy journey

together. And...

It's beautiful And

he designed it. It's incredible.

Yeah. Make sure it stays on that

finger!

Of course!

What does it mean

to you Meghan to have those stones

on your finger that once belonged to

Princess Diana?

I think everything

about Harry's thoughtfulness and the

inclusion of that and obviously not

being able to meet his mum, it is so

important to me to know that she is

a part of this with us.

What do you

think your mother would have thought

of Meghan or said about Meghan?

They

would be as thick as thieves without

question. I think she would be over

the moon, jumping up and down, so

excited for me, but then she would

have been best friends with Meghan.

It is days like today when I really

miss having her around and miss

being able to share the happy news,

but with the ring and with

everything else that's going on, I'm

sure...

She is with us.

I'm sure she

is with us jumping up and down

somewhere else.

Prince Harry, Meghan

Markle, thank you very much.

Thank

you so much.

It is that little look at the end,

it is incredible. Full details of

the Royal Wedding throughout the day

on BBC News.

Let's get the latest weather

update with Simon King.

Go if you thought it was going to be

cold, over the next few days, it

will be colder. We have a wind

coming from the Arctic. It is

bringing us wintry showers across

the north-east of Scotland and

increasingly down the eastern side

of England. A few showers towards

West Wales and south-west England,

but it will feel cold. Factor in the

wind and it will feel more like one

to five Celsius during this

afternoon. Tonight, we will continue

with the showers across the north of

Scotland and the eastern side of

England. Those becoming wintry and

snow. Down to lower levels there

would be a bit of sleetiness.

Temperatures will fall down to

freezing. Once again during

Wednesday, we will have the showers

down the eastern side of England and

further southward into the South

East later in the afternoon. Further

west, one or two showers for

Pembroke. For many of us, it will be

a dry day with sunshine, but again,

feeling cold. Bye-bye.

Hello it's Tuesday, it's ten

o'clock, I'm Chloe Tilley

in for Victoria Derbyshire.

Our top story today -

the NHS plan to reduce the high

numbers of stillbirths

and early deaths in England,

including independent

investigations into what happened.

When I talk to parents whose heart

has been broken by something that

has gone wrong in those very small

numbers of cases, what they say is,

they don't talk about the money,

they just want to know that the NHS

has learned from what went wrong.

Also on the programme -

more than a third of mothers

experience mental health

issues after giving birth.

We'll be getting reaction from three

mothers later this hour.

Also on the programme,

taking the law into their own hands

or encouraging people to stand up

for their own rights?

The housing rights activists

encouraging direct action

against bad landlords who let people

rent homes like this.

Hallway, electric, front though. I

have never had a front door since I

have been here. I dread to think

what life is like in there.

In the next half hour,

we'll hear from a landlord

as well as a tenant who says

the property's she's rented

have been in a terrible state.

the property's she's rented

Yesterday the family of the Chennai

six were over the moon at the news

that the six British men were to be

released from prison in india.

And in the last few hours

they have been released.

We'll get reaction

from them shortly.

Good morning.

Here's Rachel in the BBC Newsroom

with a summary of today's news.

New measures are to be introduced

to reduce the number of deaths

and serious injuries

during childbirth in England.

For the first time, parents

of stillborn babies are to be

routinely offered an independent

investigation into what went wrong.

The UK has already reduced

the mortality rate for babies

but still lags behind many other

European countries.

Here's our Health Correspondent,

Dominic Hughes.

Losing twins during pregnancy,

and then having baby

Hugo very prematurely,

means Rachel understands

all too well the challenges

childbirth can present.

Her experience has taught her that

parents and medical staff need

to be more aware of when things

could go wrong.

I think it's education of pregnant

women to never be afraid to ask

questions and raise concerns.

And it's also the medical

establishment

in encouraging them to do so.

Now, the Health Secretary in England

is announcing

that rather than hospitals carrying

out their own investigations

when things go wrong,

an independent review

will be carried out instead.

When I talk to parents whose heart

has been broken by something that

has gone wrong in those very small

numbers of cases, what they say

is it's not about the money,

they just want to know that the NHS

has learned from what went wrong

so that that same mistakes

isn't ever going to happen again.

The UK lags behind many other

European countries when it comes

to preventing baby deaths

and premature births.

There are around nine

stillborn babies every day.

Roughly 50 women still die

in England each year from

issues related to pregnancy.

And around 50,000 babies

are born prematurely.

Progress is being made,

but there are concerns

that difficult lessons

are not being learned.

More details of Prince Harry

and Meghan Markle's wedding

are expected to be announced today.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has

indicated the couple

will have a church wedding,

saying the pair had "chosen

to make their vows to God"

in a religious ceremony.

The couple announced

their engagement yesterday.

The main airport on the Indonesian

island of Bali has been closed

for a second day amid concerns

of a volcanic eruption.

Massive plumes of smoke and ash have

been spewing out of Mount Agung

over the past few days.

Up to 100,000 people have been

ordered to evacuate the vicinity.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled

and thousands of travellers were

stranded after the airport was

initially closed on Monday.

Six British men have been released

from an Indian prison four years

after they were arrested and charged

with smuggling weapons

into the country.

The men had been convicted

of the charges in 2016 and

sentenced to five years in prison.

But yesterday, an Indian court

threw out all charges

and ordered their release.

Pope Francis has arrived in Myanmar

for the first papal visit

to a country widely accused this

year of ethnic cleansing

of Rohingya Muslims.

The Pope is expected to meet

the country's de-facto leader

Aung San Suu Kyi.

Human rights organisations have

urged him to express support

for the Rohingya people who've been

denied citizenship.

That's the summary of the latest

news. More from me at 1030. Lots of

you getting in touch about that

story, these new measures being

introduced by the government to try

and cut the number of deaths of

babies during childbirth. A couple

of anonymous text, one says I was a

midwifery manager with expertise

into leading investigations into

what went wrong. Last year I

experienced an horrendous experience

where I believe my granddaughter and

daughter could well have died if I

wasn't there. Sad to say there was a

bullying culture within the NHS

which some midwives have adopted,

and this has to be addressed from

government level. We've had a tweet

from Jennifer saying this report

makes it sound like it arose in

hospital are caused by bad staff and

wilful ignorance. This is not what

research has shown. The question is

what are the impacts of years of

austerity and staff shortages within

the NHS? Keep your thoughts coming

on those stories and any others were

talking about this morning, using

the hash tag #victorialive. Now

let's get some sports news with

Jess. Starting with cricket. The ECB

says Ben Stokes is visiting family

in New Zealand and not heading to

Australia, after he was apparently

spotted flying out of Heathrow. He

has been suspended since being

arrested in September on suspicion

of actual bodily harm after an

incident outside a nightclub. Our

sports correspondent Andy Swiss is

following the tour.

Welcome the

Adelaide where the England players

have arrived from Brisbane. Plenty

for them to think about over the

next few days before the second test

gets underway on Saturday. While

they were flying year, the big

talking point was another cricketer

making a plane journey. A picture

appeared on Twitter which, it was

claimed, was Ben Stokes at an

airport. That prompted feverish

speculation he was on his way to

Australia. The England and Wales

Cricket Board say that he is not.

But he is on his way to New Zealand.

The ECB said he's making a private

trip to New Zealand to spend some

time with his family. But it seems

as if he also wants to play some

cricket out there. The New Zealand

side, Canterbury, say they have held

initial informal discussions with

him over his availability for

forthcoming matches. Although Ben