05/07/2017 BBC News at One

The Prime Minister signals no change on its cap

Jeremy Corbyn said living standards had fallen for public servants.

We will have the latest on our correspondent in Westminster.

The government is sending in a taskforce to run housing

at Kensington and Chelsea Council after the Grenfell Tower fire.

What part of be quiet do you not understand?

Failed by the police - the disabled refugee whose repeated

pleas for help were ignored - and who was brutally murdered.

Students in England from the poorest background can expect

debts of nearly ?60,000, says a new report

and China indulges a new round of panda diplomacy,

hoping they will improve relations with Germany.

And Centre Court will see both the men's and women's

British number ones in action at Wimbledon this afternoon.

And coming up in the sport on BBC News,

England's cricketers make a bright start in the Bristol sunshine.

They are playing South Africa, in their latest group match

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

Theresa May this lunchtime appeared to be sticking to the government's

pay cap of 1% on public sector workers, despite growing

pressure from members of her own Cabinet to relax it.

At Prime Minister's Questions, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

accused her of exploiting the goodwill of thousands

of teachers, nurses and other employees.

Earlier, the Fire Brigades Union said its members had been

Mrs May said the government had to be fair to public sector workers -

Let's speak to our assistant political editor, Norman Smith.

That was a combat if PMQs. The days we have had a public WWE between the

big beasts of the Cabinet over public pay, with figures like Boris

Johnson saying it is time to ease the pay cap -- a public WWE

the Chancellor has said we must keep our nerve and keep our foot down on

the deficit. Theresa May has been standing back, unwilling to

intervene. Today, the Prime Minister stepped into the ring and on the

side of the Chancellor, saying that the government had to keep taking

tough decisions, bearing down on the deficit, it was important to live

within 1's means. This after Jeremy Corbyn accused the government of

flip-flopping over public sector pay. Wages are rising by 2.1%, and

inflation is nearly 3%, 6 million workers already earned less than the

living wage, what does the Prime Minister think that tells us about

seven years of a Conservative government and what it has done to

the living standards of those people on whom we all rely? To get our

public services and our house services delivered to us. At one

point Theresa May seemed to lose her voice and the Chancellor lead over

and poured her a glass of water, this after she had echoed the

comments by the Chancellor, saying there needs to be a fair balance

struck between taxpayers and public sector workers. It isn't fair to

refuse to take tough decisions and to load debts on our children and

grandchildren for the future. It isn't fair to bankrupt our economy

because that leads to people losing jobs and homes and that is unfair to

go out and tell people that they can have all the public spending they

want without paying for it. What we have seen today, I think, the Prime

Minister trying to Dell 's downbeat speculation and pressure -- Dowse

down. She may not be the only key player in this, because overnight we

have seen the firefighters get a deal worth up to 3% and other public

sector unions will be thinking, if they can get 3%, why can't we get

3%? In other words the public sector pay cap seems set to come under real

pressure. Norman, many thanks. The government is to send

in a taskforce to take over the running of parts of Kensington

and Chelsea, after severe criticism of the council

after the Grenfell Tower fire. The Local Government Secretary

Sajid Javed said the and that the independent team

would help in the longer-term Here's our correspondent

Leila Nathoo. The people who lost everything

when Grenfell Tower went up Theresa May promised everyone

affected by the fire would be 158 households homeless,

139 accommodation offers Don't promise anything to us,

that within three weeks we have We want a nice place that we will

eventually be calling home. We understand that it is very

difficult, there are not so many flats available,

not so many houses you can offer us. Concern over the location

and quality of alternative homes has You have to remember just how

traumatised very many of these And we are listening to them,

we are assessing their housing needs and we are hoping to move them

to a position where they can feel comfortable,

that what they are being offered will be exactly right for them,

particularly in relation Kensington and Chelsea Council has

been strongly criticised for its response to the fire

and the government has been under pressure to send

in commissioners to take charge. Now the Communities Secretary Sajid

Javid has announced a specialist task force will take over

the running of key services including

housing, regeneration Kensington and Chelsea Council

is welcoming what it called help from central government here,

saying the scale of the disaster had But the decision to order

in a new team gives the sense the authority has badly handled

the aftermath of the fire. With residents still traumatised

and waiting to be rehoused, and scepticism about the public

inquiry, its chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick has this afternoon said

he would like to hear suggestions about the questions

he should be seeking to answer. Avon and Somerset Police repeatedly

failed a disabled refugee who was beaten to death by his

neighbour in Bristol four years ago. That is the conclusion

of the Independent Police Complaints Commission,

who say officers ignored Bijan Ebrahimi's pleas

for help for years. Mr Ebrahimi, originally from Iran,

made dozens of calls to police to report racial abuse and threats

to his life. He told police dozens of times

that his life was in danger. What part of "Be quiet"

do you not understand? Now, a report says that, over

several years, the Iranian refugee was repeatedly failed by Avon

and Somerset Police, treated as a nuisance,

not as a victim. In 2013, he was beaten to death

by a neighbour outside his flat The Independent Police

Complaints Commission says there were systematic failures

in the way he was dealt with. Today's report runs to hundreds

of pages and it says this whole case has laid bare what it

calls the disrespect, the prejudice and even contempt

with which some officers and staff treated Bijan Ebrahimi in the days

before he was murdered here. Reading that report,

it was devastating. Bijan's sisters told me the list

of failings published It was so hard to see

Bijan all these years He always thought he was

in a country where the And he couldn't see

anything beyond that. Last year, PC Kevin Duffy

was jailed after being found The jury was played tapes of him

responding to one of Bijan's calls. It's just Bijan Ebrahimi

on the phone asking for you. No, I've no intention of taking any

calls from Bijan Ebrahimi. Community support officer

Andrew Passmore was also jailed. PCs Leanne Winter and Helen Harris

were cleared by the jury, but were later sacked

by a misconduct hearing. His sisters have raised questions

about racism within the force. There isn't evidence of institutional

racism because we did not investigate the force as a whole,

but there are some hallmarks of disconnection that could be

construed as race hatred. -- discrimination.

Avon and Somerset Police say they have improved the way

that they deal with vulnerable people as a result of this case.

We accept that we failed Bijan Ebrahimi at his time in greatest

need and throughout that time he was respectful and he had confidence and

trust in the police and we let him down, and for that we are sorry. His

sisters have welcomed the apology and the changes. They are still

waiting for the local council to issue its report.

Our correspondent Jon Kay is in Bristol.

As we heard, for years on since the murder, this isn't over for the

family -- four. They are related to have this report today, it is

something they have waited a long time for, something they have fought

very hard for and there is relief to see phrases like possible racial

bias in their but now they want to know what is in the council report

that is to follow. They thought that might be published today, they were

told it was completed a couple of years ago, we understand, but they

are still waiting and we understand it is now being reviewed in the

light of this report. They still wait. There is also the possibility

of an inquest which they would also have to go through. This is not over

yet for Bijan Ebrahimi's family, his sisters, who we heard from in the

report. We have also have a statement from former PC Kevin

Duffy, the officer who was found guilty of misconduct last year, he

was jailed for that. After being convicted by a jury. He has made a

statement, saying he was innocent, saying he has been hung out to dry,

that he has been scapegoated, pointing the finger at his former

employers at Avon and Somerset police, but they have not responded

to that. Of course this is a man who was found guilty and sent to prison.

For misconduct. Thanks for joining us.

Hip and knee replacements were once considered routine operations,

but the British Medical Journal says that, in England, they

The journal obtained data showing a sharp rise in doctors resorting

to special appeals to get these and other once-routine

Our Health Correspondent Dominic Hughes reports.

Helen is a busy woman, running her boutique hotel is a demanding job,

but when her eyesight started to fail she needed a cataract

operation. Imagine her dismay when she was told the NHS would only pay

for one eye to be fixed at a time. I did not want to wait another year.

To have one eye... The imbalance it causes, difficult, it impacted on my

life for the I have got to be busy, I have to be able to see to

function. A growing and ageing population is placing increasing

demands on the NHS and that in turn is ramping up the pressure on

finances, so to save money in some areas, funding for common treatments

is being withdrawn. When that happens, GPs could make individual

requests on a case-by-case basis, and an analysis shows that overall

these have increased by 47% in the past four years and there has also

been a rise in requests for hip and knee operations over the same time

period. And the number cataract operations for which funding has

been sought has also increased. Decisions on which NHS services are

funded in England are made by local clinical commissioning groups, the

national body that represents them says that given a limited budget day

off force to make difficult choices. Demand increases, the population

increases and there is a finite amount in the budget and we have to

make difficult decisions. If there was more money we could have a

broader sense of how we spend it, but with loads more money in the

system we should still be making appropriate choices for the patient.

Doctors say or health leaders need to be honest with patients about the

decisions they are having to make. Year after year we have seen a lack

of investment and so local areas are making these really difficult

decisions and ultimately in many areas rationing services. The report

today suggests more and more patients are finding procedures that

were once considered routine are becoming harder to access. Dominic

Hughes, BBC news. Students from poorer families

in England will graduate with nearly ?60,000 of debt,

according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies,

because interest rates on student loans are now at over 6%

and those from the poorest backgrounds are likely

to borrow more. The government says those

from poorer backgrounds are now going to university

at a record rate. It is not just hats that

are going up for students. Tuition fees are going up

in the autumn, to ?9,250 per year. And interest rates on loans

are going up to over 6%. The poorer students could now leave

university with debts of And the average student will have

run up almost ?6,000 in interest charges before

they have even graduated. So, do students think they are

paying a fair price for a Yes, I think it is quite

expensive for what it is. I don't think it needs to cost nine

grand a year, really. The student loan system is a pretty

good system to have, but I don't necessarily agree

with the amount that tuition fees According to the Institute

for Fiscal Studies, raising the cost of fees has given

universities 25% more funding But the cost has been put

on the shoulders of They are graduating with the highest

debt in the developed world. With those coming from the poorest

backgrounds graduating with the The government has defended

the tuition fee system as allowing students from any background to be

able to afford to go to university. This is a unique financial product,

the government is making no money on this, it is making a substantial

investment in it. And that is to enable more people

to go to university, more people from disadvantaged

backgrounds than ever before. You are 43% more likely to go

to university if you are from a disadvantaged background

today than in 2009-10. This has also become

a political battle, with Labour pursuing the youth vote

with calls to completely scrap fees. But in the short-term, at least,

higher education is going to The Prime Minister signals no change

on the cap on public sector pay rises after Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn said living standards It's been 20 years in the making

but the final section of Scotland's newest waterway has been unveiled -

the Queen Elizabeth II Canal. Andy Murray seems to be

over his hip injury, but his Wimbledon title

defence gets a lot tougher this afternoon, against one of the game's

great characters, Dustin Brown. Two pandas will go on public

display in Germany today, in a ceremony attended

by Angela Merkel and the Chinese China has loaned the animals

to Berlin Zoo - which will pay As our correspondent

Johny Dymond reports, it's hoped the pandas will help

forge closer ties They may look friendly,

but do not get too close. China's loan of Jiao Qing -

"Darling" - and Meng Meng - "Sweet Dream" - comes

from the global It is worth paying attention when

Germany and China meet these days. Germany is Europe's

undisputed leader. China's surging economic

power is turning into The Chancellor and the president

are meeting before the world's 20 biggest economies get

together in Berlin. Once it might have been

America around the table. But Germany wants Chinese

help in propping up a world order destabilised

by change in Washington. And China wants open markets to sell

into and allies it can rely on. TRANSLATION: This is

pioneering for our relations. We're happy to note that, thanks

to mutual efforts on both sides, Chinese-German relations have

reached a new phase, in which we are The Panda Special came

to Britain in the 1970s, as China emerged from

decades of isolation. Ching Ching and Chia-Chia

were gifts, part of an effort Now, the pair are making

hearts race in Berlin. But these bamboo guzzlers are

on loan and they don't come cheap. For some Berliners at least,

they're worth every penny. On the day the deadline

expires for Qatar to accept a list of demands,

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister is holding talks in Cairo

with his counterparts, to discuss their dispute

with the Gulf state. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

and the United Arab Emirates broke all links with Qatar a month ago,

accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the allegation

and rejects, as unrealistic, Our Diplomatic Correspondent

Paul Adams is here. How significant is the meeting. As

you said the deadline, extended deadline, now has passed. It was the

possibility I think that far from seeing a resolution we could even

see an escalation with possibly fresh demands put to the Qataris.

Talk of possible expulsion from the regional grouping, the Gulf

cooperation Council, for its part cat are showing no sign of backing

down. Certainly it does not seem willing to close the satellite

channel al-Jazeera or the Turkish military base as it is being asked

to and it completely denies the allegation that it is involved in

sponsoring terrorism in the region. So the Qataris are saying this is a

case of the pot calling the kettle black. Yes and the whiff of

hypocrisy has hung over the whole affair. The supporters of Cator will

seize on reports like one that just came out today which talk of a long

history of Saudi involvement in the sponsoring, alleged sponsoring of

radical Islamism in the UK and other parts the world going back to the

1960s. This is not new, we've heard these kind of reports before. It is

well documented. Saudi scholarship programmes and mosques that ended up

hosting radical preachers, all it is alleged contributed to the spread of

a very narrow form of Islam. Not just the Saudis accused of this, the

report itself refers to Qatar and Kuwait as both having done similar

things in the past. It is all incredibly sensitive of course given

that these are our allies in the region, commercial, diplomatic, and

political ties and perhaps that is why the government, their own

investigation into precisely this, the foreign funding of jihad egrets

in this country, has not yet been published and may never be. Thank

you. Victims of harassment and stalking

in England and Wales are being left at risk because of failings

by police and prosecutors, Both the Inspectorate

of Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

found that crimes weren't being recorded, investigations

were poorly conducted and legal protection was not offered

to enough victims. Our Home Affairs Correspondent

Danny Shaw reports. An attack by a stalker that

could have been prevented. Helen Pearson suffered

neck and face wounds when her neighbour Joseph Lewis

stabbed her with a pair of scissors. It was the culmination

of a five-year stalking campaign that involved

vandalism and graffiti. Helen made 125 reports

to Devon and Cornwall Police about her stalker's escalating

violence, but she wasn't taken seriously and the force

has now apologised. We would report this

to the police and it was like, it was almost like they didn't

want to know, they didn't And then, we later

learned that they... I always felt that they weren't

believing me, but we later find out that it is worse than that,

they thought I was A new inspection report,

Living in Fear, says police and prosecutors are failing to deal

with stalking and harassment at every stage of the criminal justice

process in England and Wales. It found that allegations weren't

being recorded by police. In some forces, there were no risk

assessments of the threat posed to victims and police were giving

official warnings to offenders rather than carrying

out for investigations. Both stalking and harassment occurs

as a result of really pernicious And officers and prosecutors

were missing that, which meant that In response to the criticisms,

the National Police Chief's Council said it is contacting forces to make

sure officers improve the way they use their powers to tackle

harassment and stalking. The Crown Prosecution Service says

it will make sure every The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh

have been leading a flotilla of boats along Scotland's newest

waterway and unveiled a plaque formally naming it

the Queen Elizabeth II Canal. It's the final section

of a trans-Scotland canal regeneration that was launched

nearly 20 years ago. It could also be the last joint

engagement for the Queen and the Duke before Prince Philip

retires from public life next month. Our Scotland Correspondent

Lorna Gordon reports. A gentle arrival by water

to an area transformed. Over the years, the Queen

and the Duke of Edinburgh have carried out many hundreds of

engagements together during their annual visit

to Scotland, known as Royal Week. With the Duke, who is now 96,

due to retire from public engagements, the crowds here were

making the most of their chance to This is an area much

changed in recent years. The sculptures here honour

the industrial and agricultural past While here the Queen

was shown two Clydesdales. The breed of horses

upon which the sculptures Their named Spencer and Harry and

described as a little mischievous. But today bear on their best

behaviour for the Queen. The Queen knows a thing or two about horses so

I was a bit nervous but she was very enthusiastic about them and asked me

all about the history of the project and association with the canal and

the time of Falkirk. It was the crowning glory of a very long

project Premy! The crowds were delighted by the Royal visitors. A

really good opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

probably for these guys. We had the classic wave. There was much

affection on display here today for the Queen and Prince Philip. On what

could be one of their last official joint engagements. Lorna Gordon, BBC

News, Falkirk. The two British number one still be on Centre Court

this afternoon for the second round match at Wimbledon. Amid calls from

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for there to be rule changes after the

first round opponents retired due to injuries. David Ornstein is at

Wimbledon now. It is a scorching day, the hottest

of the championship so far, 35 degrees was the temperature recorded

on Centre Court a short time ago. Almost 100 Fahrenheit and we're

hoping for some tennis as well. It is where for British tennis fans to

have more to smile about at Wimbledon than just Andy Murray but

this year is different. Five home singles players through to the

second round, four of them in action today. Andy Murray cast aside injury

concerns to easily with his opener and he follows his fellow British

number one Johanna Konta under Courtois Heather Watson and Aljaz

Bedene also feature. The hope is there will be no repeat of the

second day when the opponents of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

pulled out mid-match taking the total number of retirements so far

to eight. It is certainly something that is going to be looked at

because it was obviously a massive problem on Centre Court yesterday.

The problem is most tennis players are carrying some kind of injury and

of course every case is individual and it is up decide with the player

if by going out onto court is it going to damage your body further

and prohibit you from playing for the rest of the tour. But there is

this enticement of this ?35,000 of prize-money as the loser of the

first round. After a day are likely to be remembered as one of the

greatest in Centre Court history, today marks the anniversary of one

of its most magical moments. In 1987 Pat Cash won what proved to be his

only Grand Slam title and set a new trend with this celebration. I have

become more famous for that climb. I thought to be number one in the

world, to beat him and Jimmy Connors, I would be none for that.

But it was that climb with my dad and sister and my trainer, it was

the first real team. But that was my way of saying thank you to them

because it was a team effort. The beaten finalist that day was it done

and all who now coaches Andy Murray and he will be hoping it is his man

who sets the trend this year on Centre Court. Well the good news

from a British perspective is Heather Watson is through to the

third round equalling her best performance here at Wimbledon where

she will play Victoria Azarenka. Delighted to say I'm joined by

former Wimbledon doubles champion Liz Smiley. What kind of task will

that be for Heather Watson against Victoria Azarenka in the third round

as might well Victoria Azarenka is a multiple Grand Slam winner, great to

see her back from the birth of her baby. And Heather Watson is going to

be feeling pretty good about herself, continue on good form. We

just had a small blip in a match today but finished strongly. So she

will be feeling confident. Of course it was the third round, and Johanna

Konta is hoping to join her. There have been controversy over

withdrawals, do you think there should be a new rule. I think it

needs to be looked at, what you do not want to see happening is players

only going out for the money. Even though it is a substantial amount.

It is difficult to police, how could you tell how injured someone is out

if they could complete a match or not. Thank you for your time, a

great afternoon to look forward to collect Johanna Konta up on Centre

Court followed by Andy Murray. Just look at Wimbledon at the

moment, just an hour ago, and a beautiful morning. And Wimbledon the

hottest place across the country at the moment with highs of 26 degrees.

And temperatures will climb through the afternoon. So a beautiful day,

but not so across the far north-east with little in the way of cloud and

some drizzly outbreaks of rain. So today was a cruel and disappointing

especially with the breeze coming from the North Sea. But some

glorious sunshine across England and Wales. For Scotland and Northern

Ireland in comparison to yesterday, feeling much warmer as well with

highs of 18 degrees. But temperatures could peak at 29. That

means through the night they will not fall very far at all, giving a

warm and sultry night for many in England and Wales. Perhaps the mid

to high teens through the night. And that could trigger some sharp

showers. Some of these through Northern Ireland and West of

Scotland but just drawing attention to the south, she would start to

Thursday morning with the for some thundery downpours. Still there

first thing in the morning as well. So across Wimbledon there could be

some showers hopefully clearing away before play gets underway. A

pleasant day for the North of England and North Wales. Still

showers threatening across West of Scotland. But as we go through the

day it will be an improving picture with those showers easing away and

actually the emphasis with tomorrow is on a good deal of dry and hot

weather again. But that could trigger a new set of problems, for

the latter stages of the afternoon we could see yet more showers, very

isolated but if you get them you will certainly know about them. They

could bring some localised flooding. But temperatures could peak at 30

Celsius tomorrow. Mid-to high 20s quite widely. So a beautiful day if

you like it hot and sunny. And it means that for Wimbledon, fingers

crossed the showers stay away and it is looking promising. On Friday a

lot of dry and sunny weather, a little more cloud further north and

west, things are starting to change. And through Friday night into

Saturday weather front is coming in from the Atlantic. That will bring

some rain again to Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland but not as

heavy as yesterday. But heralding a change into the weekend, a bit

fresher, dry for most with just a scattering of showers around.

A reminder of our main story this lunchtime.

The Prime Minister signals no change on the cap on public sector pay

rises after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said living standards

That's all from the BBC News at One, so it's goodbye from me

and, on BBC One, we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.