22/06/2017 BBC News at One

An estimated 600 high rise buildings in England are covered

in similar cladding to Grenfell Tower.

Urgent tests are being carried out to see how many are combustible. So

far it's been confirmed that three tower blocks do have combustible

cladding. The Prime Minister says steps are being taken to make them

safe. Mr Speaker, shortly before I came

to the chamber I was informed that a number of these tests have come

back as combustible. The relevant local authorities

and local Fire Services have been Mr Speaker, shortly before I came

to the chamber I was informed that Tests are carried out on hundreds of

samples. The Prime Minister says the full results should be confirmed in

the next 48 hours and residents are being informed. Also this lunchtime.

EU leaders head to Brussels to discuss Brexit, as the president of

the European Council hence the UK could still change its mind.

A former bishop convicted of abusing young men -

an independent review finds that senior figures in the Church

Mosul's famous al-Nuri mosque is blown up by so-called

Islamic State as Iraqi forces close in on their last stronghold.

Prince Harry tells an American magazine that no-one

in the Royal Family wants to be King or Queen - but they will do it

And its ladies Day here at Royal Ascot, where it's all about the

fashion and the Gold cup, which is today's feature race. Coming up in

the sport on BBC News, today's feature race. Coming up in

Lions head coach Warren Gatland urges his side to be

courageous, as he names an attacking team ahead of the opening test

with New Zealand on Saturday. Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One. Downing Street has revealed that

an estimated 600 high-rise buildings are covered in aluminium-type

cladding - which could be similar to that used on Grenfell Tower,

which was destroyed Urgent tests ordered

by the government have so far confirmed that three tower blocks

are covered in combustible cladding. The tests are on-going,

with samples from tower blocks all over the country being sent

in for testing. The Prime Minister says steps

are being taken to make the buildings affected safe

and to inform residents. Our political correspondent

Iain Watson reports. and unimaginable tragedy, that's how

the Prime Minister described the fire at Grenfell Tower. But was it

unavoidable tragedy? And our tenants in the tower blocks at risk? Local

councils estimate 600 buildings may have similar cladding. There will be

a public enquiry. Politicians have been drawing their own conclusions.

Mr Speaker, shortly before I came to the chamber I was informed that a

number of these tests have come back as combustible. The relevant local

authorities and local Fire Services have been informed and as I speak

they are taking all possible steps to ensure buildings are safe, and to

inform affected residents. The BBC has seen e-mails sent residents in

this north London block, telling them the cladding here is similar to

Grenfell Tower. But the flats do have the safety systems in place,

including sprinklers. Although the reason for the Grenfell fire hasn't

been firmly established, the Labour leader wants councils to be given

enough cash to replace cladding. Is obviously a huge cost involved in

removing and re-cladding blocks that are found to have flammable

materials included in them. That, resources that money that must be

made available immediately because it's a huge job of work. But while

precautions are being taken now, some opposition politicians accused

the government of being too slow to act and recommendations from four

years ago following this fire at Lakanal House in south London. The

coroner said those deaths were avoidable, that there should have

been sprinklers, that there should have been changing the fire

instructions, that there should be greater supervision of contracts and

fire inspection. The coroner did not, as I understand it, say there

should be sprinklers in every one of these types of properties. But what

is important is that because of what underpins what she was saying was a

necessity of making sure that people living in similar blocks are able to

feel reassured about their safety. Here in Kensington the most senior

official in the local authority has resigned. This was welcomed at

Westminster by the council -- while the council was criticised for a

slow response to the crisis. The Prime Minister wants to see swift

recommendations from the forthcoming public enquiry, but Grenfell Tower

appears to be becoming something of a political symbol of inequality and

a new consensus seems to be emerging here in the House of Commons that

more priority should be given to people who live in rented housing.

We have to learn those lessons, to make sure this tragedy is a turning

point in our whole attitude and never again do people dying

needlessly in a towering Inferno, litigant poverty, surrounded by a

sea of prosperity. Long after the TV cameras have gone and the world has

moved on, let the legacy of this awful tragedy be that we resolve

never to forget these people and instead to gear our policies and our

thinking towards making their lives better and bringing them into the

political process. But more immediately the government needs to

reassure tenants across the country that their safety is paramount. Iain

Watson, BBC News, Westminster. Tom Symonds is with me now. We have an

estimated 600 tower blocks in England alone that have an aluminium

type cladding. It's not confirmed yet apart from three, how

many could be combustible. Yes, as we are learning with this subject,

the devil is in the details so 600 tower blocks with aluminium cladding

added to the outside of those buildings are something councils do

to improve the thermal insulation of the building and of course the look

of the building. Now what we don't know is how many of them might be an

assault category that we think the Grenfell Tower materials were, which

is a category which enables them to burn in a fire, combustibility of

the industry calls it. That's crucial. As you heard the government

said they've identified three, and so those will need action taking,

and also they are testing about 100 pieces of material from tower blocks

the day, and that's quite an important and rigorous test. So

there's a lot of work to do before the government can be clear about

the scale of its problem, but of course for every one of those 600

tower blocks there will be hundreds of residents very concerned. For

that reason the government is not saying which tower blocks it's

inspecting at this stage, but I think we are going to be a long list

of those tower blocks, possibly a shorter list, depending on what they

find, over the days to come. Even before test results come back there

some local authorities taking matters into their own hands. Camden

Council has decided remove cladding from some tower blocks and the devil

is in the detail in this one. It's very interesting the statement

they've given us this morning, they have said that the aluminium panels

involved are of a polyethylene core, so that's a PE core, as its name.

It's thought that is the same as the one used at Grenfell Tower. But they

also say the panels that were fitted were not to the standard we had

commissioned. So that suggests that somewhere along the line, for

whatever reason, there's been a confusion or a deliberate piece of

cost-cutting that has led to the wrong sort of panel being fitted to

the tower block. Of course that opens at the question that something

similar happened at Grenfell Tower. We don't either way but it's a

question for the investigation and the public enquiry, and of course

the government will need to check that hasn't happened in other places

around the country. Let's go to ours Assistant political editor Norman

Smith in Westminster. The Prime Minister says more results should

begin in the next 48 hours but it goes to show the task the government

have a head. What seems to be emerging out of the tragedy, the

horror of Grenfell Tower, is potentially a much wider housing

scandal centred on social housing and the quality of fire protection

given to residents in there. And already we have had calls from some

Labour MPs for those residents in towers potentially affected to be

immediately rehoused. That would of course be a massive undertaking.

Ministers, while stressing that safety of course is paramount, are

keen not to start any sort of panic. So they are saying that they hope to

have the necessary tests on the tower blocks completed within days.

Those tower blocks which have similar cladding, fire experts will

going to assess whether the buildings are actually unsafe.

Because it is argued just because there is some similar cladding does

not necessarily mean those buildings are unsafe, because it depends how

much cladding varies, where it is, what are the sort of preventative

Fire safety methods may be in place but what we can say is there seems

to be an appetite for fundamental rethink about the attitude here at

Westminster towards social housing and the sort of priority it's given.

Norman Smith in Westminster, thank you. The Prime Minister this

afternoon is in Brussels. EU leaders for the first time

since she lost her parliamentary Brexit will be discussed

and Theresa May is expected to offer certainty to EU nationals living

in the UK. Our Europe correspondent

Damian Grammaticas is in Brussels. What sort of reception will she get?

She made the comments at the beginning of the election campaign

where Mrs May accused some in the EU of trying to undermine her

re-election prospects, so this is her first meeting since then. It's

going to be interesting to see how she is received. She will address

the leaders this evening at dinner about the issue of citizens' rights,

what she says is this British UK offer to be put on the table. The EU

side already has its offer. It's made it quite a few weeks ago,

saying that all existing rights, that 4 million people have, UK

citizens living in the EU, EU citizens in the UK could, should be

preserved, guaranteed for life, that's rights to work, pension

rights, things like that, education rights. We will see of Theresa May's

offer matches that or not. But the leaders here will not engage with

her in discussions about it. That is for the separate negotiation process

which David Davis is part of. So they will listen politely and then

usher her out of the room, so that they can discuss Brexit themselves

and how they feel the start of talks is going. Interestingly Donald Tusk,

who is during these talks today, was asked today and said somebody asks

could exist -- could Brexit be reversed. He said, you may say I'm a

dreamer, but I'm not the only one, quoting John Lennon's Imagine.

There's a warning today from the horticulture industry that

without access to seasonal workers abroad, their sector

A BBC survey of soft fruit and salad growers found that more than half

of those they spoke to aren't sure if they'll have enough migrant

20 % say they already have fewer workers than they need.

Here's our business correspondent, Emma Simpson.

Perfectly ripe and ready to be picked.

Right now, there are small armies of workers dotted

All this produce is home-grown, but not home-picked.

That's because just about everyone here is from eastern Europe.

It's tough, seasonal work, especially in this heat and,

with the weak pound and Brexit looming, these jobs just aren't

Maybe next time I'm going to Germany or Netherlands or Bulgaria.

He's been coming to this farm for the last ten years

They are European Union country and it will be easy for us there.

Because we are European Union citizens.

Even before the Brexit vote, recruitment was getting harder.

But this year the boss of this farm says he's got 20% fewer

He says the industry won't survive if they stop coming.

Well, it means we won't be able to carry on growing food.

I mean, they are the critical resource for us to be able

And the logic of extension, of not being able to harvest that crop,

is that we will need to import produce from Europe

Seven out of ten soft fruit and salad growers said

they would consider reducing UK production if there were future

And the industry is warning that, in an extreme scenario,

a punnet of strawberries could rise by up to 37% if we had

Why can't you get British workers to pick fruit?

We do try very hard, but our experience has been

The fact that it's seasonal operation makes it difficult

for people, and as well unemployment is very low

They've been picking strawberries for decades in this corner of Essex.

The nationalities have changed through the years,

but if we want to keep buying British, then growers say they need

The government says it also wants this industry to thrive

but that there isn't sufficient evidence for such

An independent review has found that senior figures in the Church

of England "colluded" with a former bishop who was convicted

Peter Ball, who's now 85, was jailed in 2015 for historical

sex offences against 18 teenagers and young men.

A review found that the Church failed to respond appropriately

Our religious affairs correspondent Martin Bashir reports.

A bishop for 15 years who claimed to be a close friend of the Prince of

Wales, Peter Ball's fall from grace was sealed tee years ago. When he

admitted to 18 sexual offences against young men and served 16

months in prison. But today's review, led by the former head of

Camden council, focuses on the church's management of Peter Ball

when the allegations first surfaced in 1992, and he stood down as bishop

of Gloucester. Entitled And Abuse Of Faith, she says that the church

colluded with Ball rather than seeking to help those he harmed. The

church's response over many years is lamentable by any standards. In

reality, colluding with Ball's ambition to protect and promote

himself, rather than seeking to help those he harmed or ushering the

safety of others. The report is particularly critical of Lord Carey,

who was Archbishop of Canterbury at the time. It says he received seven

letters following Ball's initial arrest and failed to pass them to

the police. He also chose not to put Ball's name on the Lambeth list, a

catalogue of clergy about whom there were serious questions about

suitability for ongoing ministry. I am truly sorry that, as a church, we

failed the survivors of abuse carried out by bishop Peter Ball.

Having read the report, I am appalled and deeply disturbed by its

contents. As they Moira says in her Peter Ball abused boys and men over

a 20 year period and, as a church, we colluded and failed to act and

protect those who came forward for help. There are no excuses. We

understand the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is written

to Lord Carey asking him to consider his position as honorary assistant

bishop in the diocese of Oxford. It is Lord Carey's only remaining

position in the Church of England. Prince Harry has suggested that none

of his family wants to be In an interview with the American

magazine Newsweek, he said the Royals were acting

for "the greater The Prince also criticised

the decision to make him walk behind his mother's coffin

at her funeral when he was 12 - saying no child should

be asked to do that. Here's our royal correspondent,

Nicholas Witchell. They were the images which came

to symbolise a national The then 13-year-old Prince Harry,

walking with his then 15-year-old brother,

William, in the funeral cortege Now, nearly 20 years later,

Harry has spoken of the turmoil In an interview with the American

magazine Newsweek, he said: But it's Harry's comments

on what he seems to feel is the burden of being royal

which may cause some surprise, particularly

among older generations. The journalist who did

the interview is sympathetic. Prince Harry is a huge

admirer of the Queen. He thinks she's

absolutely wonderful. But he is now at an age where he can

see the demands and the sacrifices that you have to make,

and I think he and Prince William But a former member of the Royal

Household is more critical. I don't think it's such a good idea

to be quite so open. He has done a lot for mental

health in bringing out I think we've got to a point now

where enough is enough. In this day and age,

Harry is saying, and given a free will, few people,

in his opinion, would choose to take But, of course, being

royal means you don't What we seem to have is Harry

off-loading his private thoughts, thoughts which, not for the first

time, underline the downside, as he sees it, of being in such

a privileged position. But, alongside his apparent doubts,

there is also a strong For the older members

of the family - one of whom, the 96-year-old Duke of Edinburgh,

left hospital this morning after the treatment of an infection -

for them, the approach has always They may feel it's advice

Harry might now heed. Nicholas Witchell, BBC

News, Buckingham Palace. Our top story. An estimated 600

high-rise buildings in England have similar cladding to Grenfell Tower.

Urgent tests are being carried out. So far, it's been confirmed that two

do have combustible cladding. The relevant local authorities and Fire

Services have been informed and they are taking all possible steps to

ensure buildings are safe and to inform affected residents.

Coming up in sport: Will Ireland be handed Test playing status,

as the International Cricket Council meet to decide whether to

approve their inclusion amongst other Test nations.

Iraqi forces say they are just a street away from the famous

ancient mosque in the city of Mosul that was blown up by

The Iraqi prime minister described the destruction of the Great Mosque

of al-Nuri as "an official declaration of defeat"

by Islamic State fighters in their last stronghold in Iraq.

Our correspondent, Richard Galpin, has the latest.

Iraqi troops fighting their way into Mosul's old city.

The last district still in the hands of so-called Islamic State.

The Army is closing in now on the few hundred militants

And, in the midst of the fighting, stood this.

The famous leaning minaret of the grand al-Nuri mosque,

It was here the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,

made his only public appearance, after proclaiming the caliphate

But, this week, people were horrified to see video showing

the minaret and mosque being blown up by the militants as they retreat.

Although they blame an American air strike.

And the destruction has been described by the Iraqi Prime

Minister as a declaration of defeat by Islamic State.

With overwhelming numbers of Iraqi troops now concentrated

in the old city, and with backing from a US-led coalition,

it does seem to be only a matter of time before Isis is finally

TRANSLATION: Our forces on the ground are moving forward.

They have now penetrated the old city.

It is true, the advance is slow, but we are advancing carefully,

taking into account the lives of the civilians trapped

but the upsurge in fighting is leading to many civilian casualties.

It now lies just a few hundred metres away from the front lines.

These people, most of them are children.

There are children, lots of civilian casualties, that you see here.

Most of them are fleeing, and on their way out,

With at least 100,000 people still in the old city,

the number of casualties is likely to keep rising until the offensive

to retake Mosul from Islamic State, which began in October last year,

The man who died at the scene of the terrorist attack at a mosque

in Finsbury Park on Monday has been named as Makram Ali.

He was 51, and from Haringey in north London.

A preliminary postmortem examination found that Mr Ali died

Our Home Affairs Correspondent, Daniel Sandford,

Makram Ali, the only person to have died in the attack on Sunday night,

going into Monday morning, being formally named by police today. A

51-year-old who moved to the country aged ten from Bangladesh, a man who

had four daughters, two sons and two grandchildren, a man who had

suffered from a weak leg and collapsed on his way back from

prayers in the early hours of Monday morning and was being looked after

by fellow worshippers, expressing his desire to get home to the house

in the next street when the white van ploughed into him, injuring many

worshippers, and unfortunately killing him. He died of multiple

injuries. His family today describing how devastated they are

at his loss. His daughter speaking on behalf of the family.

We wish everyone to know what a lovely man he was.

He spent his whole life without any enemies,

We, as a family have always believed that the actions of one person

cannot be a reflection of a whole people.

We have no doubt that our father would not wish for there to be any

retaliation or recriminations and would urge people to remain calm

and to pray for peace in these difficult times.

Police are asking for anybody who saw that distinctive white van with

a yellow logo on it over the attack at the weekend, and anybody who

knows the main suspect in the spoken to him in recent weeks, to come

forward. A 47-year-old man, Darren Osborne, is still in custody but

hasn't yet been charged. Single parents with children under

two have won a High Court challenge against the Government's

controversial benefit cap, after a judge ruled that "real

misery is being caused Our legal correspondent,

Clive Coleman, is at the High Court. Explain what this will mean. Mr

justice Collins has ruled that the government's failure to exempt this

specific group, parents with children under two years of age, to

exempt them from the benefits cap, is an unlawful because it

discriminates against very young children. Emotive used. He said that

real mystery is being caused to no good effect by the imposition of the

cap. The cap itself limits the amount of state benefits, including

housing benefit, that families can claim. Some groups however are

exempt. For instance, if you are a full-time carer, you are exempt. The

claimants, two of whom were made homeless as a result of domestic

violence, claimed during the case that the cap meant they had to make

hard decisions between paying their rent or buying food. The government

has been given permission to appeal, but the judge expressed his view

that they should think long and hard before doing so.

The funeral for an American student, Otto Warmbier,

who was held for 15 months in a North Korean prison,

The 22-year-old died earlier this week after he was

President Trump has blamed the Pyongyang regime for his death.

Our correspondent, Aleem Maqbool, reports from the Warmbier family's

Fellow students pay their respects to Otto Warmbier, who travelled to

North Korea early last year, was arrested, jailed,

and finally sent home to his parents in a coma.

You look at North Korea and you look at Otto,

He went over there, a healthy, wonderful boy.

Otto Warmbier was last seen in North Korea

publicly pleading for his freedom in a courtroom.

But, instead, he was sent, sentenced to 15 years hard labour in

He had been accused of crimes against the

country, and of taking a sign from the hotel he was staying at.

Another traveller in the same adventure tour

group described the moment he was taken away.

TRANSLATION: Otto was tapped on the shoulder and was

Then people started going, someone is missing, where is Otto?

Then the guide realises that someone is missing.

She gets up and tries to get off the plane, but she is

He decided, while travelling in China, to take

what was supposed to be a quick trip across the border with a tour group.

North Korean officials now say that Otto Warmbier had been in a coma,

Apparently it was because he contracted botulism.

American doctors say they have no evidence of that.

There are fears for three other North American

nationals also being detained in North Korea.

The mystery of Otto Warmbier's death remains.

And Washington now assesses its response

to a regime that continues to provoke American anger.

In the town where he grew up, residents are

saying their final goodbyes to Otto Warmbier.

Right across this country people are asking what his

death means for already incredibly tense relations

It's Gold Cup Day at Ascot - day three of the Royal Festival -

The signature race happens at 4:20 this afternoon,

with last year's winner Order Of St George

Our sports news correspondent, Richard Conway, is at Ascot.

That is the feature race, the Gold Cup, at 4:20pm. Order of St George

is the favourite, 11-10 on with bookmakers to repeat last year's

victory. He is trained by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore,

and I'm sure that bookies will not want that on to win today, but there

are others in the field that could rival him. It is Ladies Day at royal

Ascot. We have been seeing some bright and colourful fashions going

through the gates. The milliners of Britain have been doing a brisk

trade over the last few months! Back to the racing, at Her Majesty the

Queen will be arriving shortly after 2pm. She won the gold cup with her

horse in 2013. She doesn't have a runner in the race today, but she

does have a horse in the Britannia stakes at 5pm. Maths Prize will run

for her in her colours, and she hopes that that will bring her a

winner in this, one of her favourite weeks of the year.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, 35, today, 25. 10 degrees

cooler for some of us, but we have swapped sunshine for heavy and

thundery showers in some parts of the country. This scene was pictured

by mark in Kent a few hours ago. Still some heavy showers and

thunderstorms. Further north, a bit more cloud around. This is North

Yorkshire. Fairly similar up and down many parts, grey skies and we

have seen recently. Over the next few days, that fresh theme, with

some outbreaks of rain some of us. 35 degrees yesterday, many of us

typically around 20 today, especially in central and northern

parts. It is warmer in the south-east, with a few heavy showers

and thunderstorms just clearing out to the east over next few hours. You

could see the odd rumble of thunder in the afternoon. Further north

west, the west of Scotland, a bit of drizzly rain at 4pm, but some sunny

spells for southern Scotland and Northern Ireland just through that

cloud. Mostly dry over much of northern England and down towards

the Midlands. Still those showers pretty close to the coast for

Lincolnshire and parts of Norfolk, but largely drive further south in

England and Wales with quite a bit of cloud around, and temperatures

typically in the low 20s. This evening, any showers in the east

bade away quickly. We will start to see wind and rain heading in from

the north-west, bringing rain to Northern Ireland, Scotland, parts of

north-west England and Wales. Dry elsewhere tonight and much more

comfortable for sleeping, so it will be a bit of a relief, temperatures

falling to 14 or 15. Tomorrow, this weather front heading south-east,

opening the doors for fresh air to move in from the west or north west,

so different feel to the weather tomorrow. Patchy rain heading south

across England and Wales. It should brighten up for Northern Ireland and

Scotland, a return to sunshine and showers, and for southern parts and

the south-east, largely dry quite bright and warm. Elsewhere,

temperatures around about average for the time of year, up in the high

teens, maybe the low 20s. At the weekend, it's looking like a day of

sunshine and scattered showers on Saturday. It will feel fresher than

it has done, around 15 to 23 degrees. Similar on Sunday, but a

few showers around, but you're likely to stay dry. Things are

certainly not looking as hot as the last week or so, so fairly normal

for the time of between 16 and 22. An estimated 600 high-rise buildings

in England have similar cladding to Grenfell Tower. Urgent tests are

being carried out. So far, it's been confirmed that three have

combustible cladding. The Prime Minister says steps are being taken

to make them safe.