08/03/2018 BBC News at One

The Home Secretary says

the attempted murder of a former

Russian spy using nerve gas

is an outrageous crime.

Amber Rudd told Parliament Sergei

and Yulia Skripal remain

in a critical condition in hospital,

and the police officer

who went to their aid

is in a serious condition.

The use of a nerve agent on UK soil

is a brazen and reckless act.

This was attempted

murder in the most

cruel and public way.

We'll have the latest

on the counter-terrorism

investigation into where the nerve

agent came from.

Also this lunchtime...

A passenger tells a court

how her hair caught fire when a bomb

went off on a London underground

train last September.

Domestic abusers could be

electronically tagged or banned

from drinking alcohol,

in a new crackdown proposed

by the Government.

Longer waits in A&E and fewer

non-urgent operations -

new figures make grim

reading for the NHS.

And, going for gold -

Britain is hoping for a record medal

haul at the Winter Paralympics.

And coming up in the

sport on BBC News...

Eddie Jones makes three changes

for England's Six Nations clash

with France this weekend.

Captain Dylan Hartley

misses out through injury.

Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One.

The Home Secretary has described

the attempted murder of a former

Russian spy and his daughter

as an outrageous crime.

Speaking in the House of Commons,

Amber Rudd said the use of a nerve

agent on UK soil was a brazen

and wreckless act.

She also said it was highly likely

that the police officer

taken ill at the scene

in Salisbury was exposed

to the same nerve agent

as Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Counter terrorism officers

are trying to identify

the source of the toxin.

Richard Galpin reports.

Much of the investigation now is

focusing on who carried out the

attempted murder here in Salisbury

last Sunday. In which the Russian

double agent Sergei Skripal and his

daughter Yulia ingested deadly nerve

agent. But at the local hospital, it

is now clear the policeman who was

also contaminated after rushing to

help them when they collapsed is

recovering.

The police are working

closely...

In Parliament this

morning the Government promised a

robust response once it is clear who

was behind the attack.

The use of a

nerve agent on UK soil is a brazen

and reckless act. This was attempted

murder in the most cruel and public

way. People are right to want to

know who to hold to account. But if

we are to be rigorous in this

investigation, we must avoid

speculation and allow the police to

carry on their investigation.

The

horrifying effects of a nerve agents

have been seen in several parts of

the world in recent years, even

though their use is banned. Hundreds

suffocated to death in this sarin

gas attack in the rebel held areas

of Syria in 2013. Last year another

nerve agent, VX, was used by the

Korean regime. Generally it is only

governments which develop and store

nerve agents.

Making nerve agents is

not the sort of stuff you can knock

up in your back shed, it needs a

sophisticated laboratory, highly

trained and experienced scientists

that only we really find in

state-run institutions.

So for those

investigating the attack in

Salisbury, the range of likely

culprits has narrowed significantly,

with Russia probably now the prime

suspect.

The British authorities

will be looking for substantive

proof of a link between the use of

this agent and the Russians in

particular. It's not only

governments who use this sort of

thing, sarin was

thing, sarin was used in the Tokyo

Metro a few years ago, nevertheless

the high probability is it is the

Russians.

There is much still to be

uncovered in the investigation, but

for the family... Sergei Skripal's

brother died in Russia and the

family believe the deaths are

suspicious.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Leila

Nathoo is outside Sergei Skripal's

house in Salisbury.

I am at Sergei Skripal's house and

there has been a flurry of activity

in the last hour or so, the most

activity we have seen to days. We

had a number of ambulances turning

up here, and an incident response

team. Police have set up a large

tent here, there are also tends in

the driveway and back garden too so

it looks like there will be a

lengthy operation here. As far as

Salisbury city centre goes, there

Salisbury city centre goes, there is

a police tent near the bench where

Sergei Skripal and his daughter was

found, Zizzi restaurant is cordoned

off, so a number of sites of

interest here. Wiltshire Police is

saying the officer who was

hospitalised after being one of the

first on the scene to response to

the call-out, he is now described as

being in a serious but stable

condition. He is conscious, talking

and engaging. Sergei Skripal and

Yulia are said to be critical but

stable. The police are putting a

timeline together of their

movements, having lunch at Zizzi

restaurant at 1:30pm, then going

into the pub, later found slumped

and collapsed on the bench. When did

they get exposed to this nerve

agent? How was it ingested, was it

airborne? Who was administered by?

And how did it get into Salisbury

city centre the country?

Our Science Editor

David Shukman is here.

In terms of the substance, what are

investigators looking for, David?

There is a huge amount we don't know

but the phrase nerve agent covers a

lot of possibilities. It points to

the fact this was manufactured

probably in some state institution.

These are not something you can cook

up in the kitchen. In Japan some

people succeeded but it took a long

time and it is hazardous. We also

know nerve agents attacks the

nervous system by definition, that

is what they do, and the symptoms

eyewitnesses describe match that,

namely convulsions, difficulty

breathing, frothing at the mouth,

all pointing to the use of these

nerve agents. I think beyond that,

we are into a phase where there is

detective work into trying to find

out where the substance came from.

There is a rather weird branch of

science that does this, looking for

what they called markers in the

chemical, little clues that might

indicate where the substance was

made. There are clues that can be

found that point to a particular

government or a particular source.

Whether they can do that this time,

I don't know.

OK, for now thank you.

Our Chief Political Correspondent

Vicki Young is in Westminster.

We heard strong words from the Home

Secretary, will we have more than

words at any point?

That was

certainly what MPs were calling for.

It was striking the difference in

tone from Amber Rudd today to that

of Boris Johnson a few days ago when

he spoke directly about Russia

saying they were a malign and

disruptive force. Amber Rudd being

more careful with her language, she

was keen to say that if there was

evidence and proof Russia was behind

this, then the UK would be ready to

act. When pushed on this, she said

in other cases the UK has been

outspoken in its criticism of Russia

and will go further if we need to do

so, which begs the question what

exactly might she be thinking about?

Where were outspoken words from a

Conservative MP who said what was

going on here was a brazen act of

war by Russia, he said it was

humiliating our country. There are

many people who agree with that but

it is much more likely we will see

an extension of sanctions, of

stopping visas for some people come

into this country, freezing of

assets. The likelihood of cutting

off diplomatic ties though, I don't

think that will happen.

Thank you.

The rest of the day's news now.

A commuter has been describing

to a court how her hair caught fire

when a bomb went off on a London

underground train last September.

Ahmed Hassan, who's 18,

denies attempted murder and causing

an explosion likely to endanger

life, at Parsons Green station.

June Kelly is at the Old Bailey.

Some very dramatic and distressing

evidence here at the Old Bailey this

morning as passengers who were on

that train last September describe

what happened. The first witness we

heard from gave her evidence from

behind a screen and she is remaining

anonymous. She was badly burned, she

suffered burns to her face, hands

and legs, and she said that during

her evidence that her coat was

burning and her tights actually

melted. She broke down in tears

during her evidence and had to pause

at one point. She said she had seen

the defendants a short time before

on the train and seen this bag he

had with him which she thought

looked odd. The prosecution say that

in that bag was born with a bucket.

Another witness called Amy Colville

described how her hair caught fire.

She said, there was a loud, cracking

bang, then a wall of glass came past

me, and flames were passing over

her. Another witness was very upset,

she sobbed throughout her evidence.

She said her hair was coming out in

chunks and her face was burning.

Another witness said his face was

burned and he lost his eyebrows and

eyelashes. Throughout all of this

evidence the defendant sat in the

dock with his eyes closed and his

head down.

Thank you.

Two 17-year-old boys have died

and seven people have been injured

in an accident involving three cars

near Thirsk in North Yorkshire.

Police say the vehicles

collided on the A61 shortly

before 9.30pm last night.

Five adults and two children

were taken to hospital.

Police have appealed for anyone who

saw what happened to contact them.

Two 18-year-old men have been

arrested, after a student

at Nottingham Trent University said

she was subjected to racist abuse

through the door of her room.

Rufaro Chisango said people chanted

"we hate the blacks"

and she posted a video

of what happened on social media.

Suspected domestic abusers could be

electronically tagged or banned

from drinking alcohol,

under new Government proposals

for England and Wales.

Draft legislation has been put out

for public consultation,

as Lucinda Adam reports.

Euleen Hope suffered a decade of

abuse at the hands of her

ex-partner, emotional but also

physical. She ended up in hospital

more than a dozen times. She says

she used to grow her fringe long to

cover her black eyes.

Some people

say to me, why didn't you get out

sooner? If you leave a relationship,

do you want to be looking over your

shoulder? That person could be still

after you because he already told

me, he will say when it is over.

Then he

threatened me and told me he would

organise for someone to throw acid

in my face.

In 2015 the man was

eventually jailed for grievous

bodily harm and assault after her

sister called the police. Today the

Prime Minister and Home Secretary

met just a few of the 2 million

people, mostly women, who suffer

domestic abuse each year.

What we

are proposing today is a really

ambitious sea change in people's

approach to domestic abuse, really

bringing it out from where it has

been hidden. This is not just about

the really nasty attacks that take

place but it's about building on the

work we have already done on

coercive control and introducing new

forms of abuse to be considered by

the judges.

Among the proposals,

broadening the legal definition of

domestic abuse to include physical,

psychological, sexual and emotional

but also economic abuse. Tougher

sentences the cases involving

children, and protection orders that

could see abuses electronically

tagged or banned from drinking

alcohol.

We are pleased to see the

spotlight on financial and economic

abuse, this can be anything from

having your wages taken away from

you by your partner to committing

benefit fraud in your name.

The

consultation period for the proposed

new laws will last 12 weeks.

More people in England had

non-urgent operations postponed

by the NHS in January compared

to the same period last year.

Waiting time performance in A&E

departments has also hit its lowest

level since targets were introduced.

Our health correspondent

Adina Campbell is with me.

Talk us through the figures.

We all know that the winter period

puts more pressure on the NHS but it

is now clear just how much of an

impact it has had on routine

operations so if we take a look at

the number of routine operations

which had to be postponed in January

this year, that was down by 23,000

compared to the same period last

year. Why is this happening? There

are number of reasons, we've got to

take into account the cold weather

but also things like flu and

norovirus as as the ongoing

pressures such as social care with

some older patients stock in beds in

hospital rather than getting the

right kind of care at home. We've

also had figures through for A&E

performance in England as well and

that is at its lowest level for 14

years. The target is 95% of patients

being seen in A&E within four hours

but in February this year that was

down by 85%, the lowest on record.

We have seen the pictures of

patients being left in corridors

waiting to be seen and the pressures

on Ambulance Services as well so

this combined with an ageing

population, staff shortages, as well

as our own lifestyle choices with

things like our diet and smoking,

all of this puts the NHS under

incredible pressure.

Our top story this lunchtime:

The Home Secretary says

the attempted murder of a former

Russian spy and his daughter

using a nerve agent

is an outrageous crime.

And still to come:

Why the recent freezing weather

means drivers will have to contend

with even more potholes.

Coming up in sport:

"I thought I was in trouble."

Snowboarder Owen Pick says "it's

amazing" after being named

as Paralympics GB flagbearer

for the opening ceremony

in South Korea on Friday.

Brexit is distracting the Government

from making changes needed

to help boost the economy -

that's a warning from business

leaders, as they gather

at the annual British Chambers

of Commerce conference.

The group's Chairman says

the government can do more

than one thing at once,

and has called for

stronger leadership.

Nina Warhurst has been visiting

companies in Staffordshire,

where voters overwhelmingly

backed Brexit.

Staffordshire is home

to a million people,

for the manufacturers,

the service industries

and the trades men and women,

the Brexit count down is on.

A drop in the pound has

brought a big boost

for export sales in Hixon.

Two thirds of electrics they build

and the metal they shape go abroad.

But that could change.

This piece of machinery puts

all the safety edges

on and the folds very

consistently very quickly.

Do they stay mainly in the UK?

Yes, absolutely.

Talk of tariffs means they're

building their British client-base

and mass production for the eurozone

will be made in Romania.

Fewer borders means more

predictable profits.

Those changes, are they as a result

of Brexit directly?

No, I wouldn't say directly.

We have been sort

of doing this anyway.

What this has allowed us to do

with the uncertainty of Brexit

is focus our mind a bit more

in transferring goods.

So Brexit has made you think

in a different way would you say?

Absolutely.

Staffordshire is a county

with a rich industrial heritage

and you look to the future

and the Chamber of Commerce says

they can grow the local

economy here by 50% over

the next three years.

But some businesses say

it is impossible to make any

predictions until they know

the exact terms of the Brexit deals.

We head south to Weeping Cross,

a community which relies

heavily on this business.

Here they say a fluctuating pound

and not knowing the final deal makes

importing uncertain.

It can mean that patients

go without medication.

You would say that has happened,

because of Brexit someone has gone

without their medication?

I can't necessarily link it

to Brexit, but it does have a link

to currency fluctuations.

And do you worry that

because of that ambiguity,

we will see a time where you can't

be certain with patients

about the supply of medication?

Very much so.

One county, 33,000 businesses -

Staffordshire is edging closer

to seeing how their past decision

will impact their financial future.

Nina Warhurst, BBC News.

John Lewis staff will see

their bonus cut for the fifth

consecutive year, after the retail

chain revealed a fall in profits.

The John Lewis Partnership -

which is owned by John Lewis

and Waitrose employees -

announced that this year's bonus

will be 5% of annual salary,

down from 6% last year,

with 85,000 staff sharing

a pot worth £74 million.

The public spending watchdog has

warned that many councils in England

face becoming financially

unsustainable because of the

increasing demands of social care.

The National Audit Office calculates

that the money local authorities

receive from central government has

been cut by nearly 50% since 2010.

Alison Holt reports.

It is lunch time at think day centre

in Surrey. Here, people with brain

injuries and other conditions can

socialise and take part in

activities. Many have their care

paid for by the county down till. --

council.

We like its legs. The legs

are brilliant.

The report says local

authorities now spend more than half

of their budgets on providing social

care. Sue, who has multiple

sclerosis, describes the centre as a

lifeline.

I come here only twice a

week. I would come more if there was

the funding for it. But apart from

that, it is amazing.

Councils like

Surrey have duty to support people

who are older and disabled as well

as providing children's services.

Across the board, demand is

increasing. But the National Audit

Office report says 2010 the money

English councils have got from

central Government has been cut by

nearly 50%. Services like bin

collections and roads and libraries

have had funding reduced by nearly a

third over the same time. And with

councils using their savings to

balance the books, one in ten will

have exhausted their reserves within

three years.

We are calling for a

plan for the long-term financial

sustainability of sector. What we

want local Government to do and fund

them for that or make funding

available. Alongside that social

care needs a funding solution as

well.

In Surrey, one of wealthiest

parts of country, as well as raising

Council Tax and making more cuts to

services like bins and roads, the

local authority is dipping into its

reserves again.

You see what the

snow has done. The council leaderer

knows they have to change. It has

been difficult to make sure we could

come in this year with a budget with

the minimum tax level increases that

we had to do. We had have to use 24

million of our reserves and 15

million of our capital receipts to

help. The Government said a new

council funding settlement has been

approved to help keep services

running and that will mean a real

terms increase in the money they

get.

The recent cold weather will lead

to an increase in potholes,

according to motoring experts.

The RAC say pressures on council

spending means roads

across the country were already

plagued by potholes

and that freezing water in road

cracks has accentuated the problem.

Charlotte Gallagher reports.

The severe weather over the past

week has been causing misery for

drivers. And the bad news is the

elements are now causing even more

problems. The RAC is warning the

freezing weather is leading to more

potholes on your roads. Some

campaigners have had enough and are

taking matters into their own hands.

In Oxfordshire some residents are

planting flowers in potholes to

raise awareness.

We have had a lot

of people doing it. Loads of

comments on Facebook. And there has

been a couple that have been filled

in. Badly but they have been filled

in.

The cold weather makes potholes

even worse. Because water gets into

the cracks on the road, freezes and

then expands, further weakening the

road surface. The Department for

Transport says knows people are

concerned about it giving councils

just under £300 million to fix

potholes. And the rise in potholes

is bad for drivers' wallets too with

bills runs to hundreds of pounds.

Tyres, broken wheels, in some cases

broken wish bones, parts on cars

that have been forced back because

of the impact and in some cases it

is written cars off.

The RAC warns

the problem isn't going away.

A bad

impact, but we feel it will get

worse and we may see more potholes

in spring than daffodils.

The local

Government said councils are fixing

a pothole every 19 seconds. The cold

snap will make that job even harder.

After Team GB's most successful

Winter Olympics ever,

attention now turns to Paralympians

as the games get

underway in Pyeongchang.

The British team will be led

at tomorrow's opening ceremony

by their flagbearer,

the Snowboarder Owen Pick -

who lost his leg while serving

with the army in Afghanistan.

Kate Grey has been speaking to him.

Soldier turned snowboarder,

Owen Pick is familiar

with the prestige of

carrying his country's flag.

After losing his leg in Afghanistan,

he has been on quite

a journey to now lead his country

at a Paralympic Games.

I didn't expect it, it was very

much a surprise to me.

And, yeah, it does mean a lot,

obviously the flag and victory's

super-important us to.

So it is nice to be given

the opportunity to carry

it out here.

Owen is one of three

snowboarders who will be

representing Britain

at the Paralympics for

the first time ever.

And for the IPC President,

Andrew Parsons, it will be his

first games in charge.

One of his biggest challenges has

been dealing with the

Russian doping scandal.

So the situation has

changed, has progressed,

we are now in the situation

where we can say with a

degree of confidence

that those who are competing

here are as clean as any athlete.

So it is difficult, but you know

taking it seriously in a very

consistent way, open with dialogue,

it makes a little less difficult.

And the weather is another

thing to overcome.

During the Olympics,

it was high speed winds and freezing

temperatures.

Now it's the unusually snowy

conditions which could

prove disruptive.

We are not worried.

Of course we have

Plans B and C, so we

have different scenarios.

We have a lot of snow

today and probably this

evening, so we had to see how this

affects the opening ceremony for

example, which is in

an outdoor stadium.

In the last few days some training

has been cancelled as a

result of snow.

Regardless of the conditions,

the British team believe

they're the prepared ever been ahead

of a Winter Paralympics,

with 17 athletes set to compete

across five sports.

All hoping to turn the years

of planning and preparation into

Paralympic glory.

It is just after 10am and the snow

has eased off. In the last hour we

have received news from the

international Paralympic committee

that after long negotiations, the

decision has been made that North

Korea and South Korea will march

separately at the opening ceremony.

The IPC suggested was because it was

North Korea's first Paralympics. The

IPC respect the decision made by the

North and South Korean delegations.

Thank you very much. Enjoy the

competition.

One of Paralympics GB's

big hopes for the games

is the wheelchair curling team.

Nikki Fox went to the

national curling centre

in Stirling to meet them.

Final day of training before

heading to South Korea.

It's not the team's first

Winter Paralympics - four of the

five members won bronze

in Sochi four years ago.

But it's all new for Hugh,

or Shugg as his team-mates

like to call him.

He is making his Paralympic debut.

He was 24 when he was diagnosed

with multiple sclerosis.

When I got diagnosed with MS

and you start losing your

functions and your abilities,

your confidence goes and I became

more or less house-bound.

Getting into curling,

confidence just grew and

putting everything into it

and just going for it.

It's taken some adjustment

for Hugh to get this far.

His first sport was rugby.

I'd stepped back

before my diagnosis, I

wasn't playing as much, but I always

had it in my mind that I could

go back.

In my mind, I was like,

I could be the greatest!

Mentally it is very much

more demanding, you're

constantly thinking and looking

for different shots,

different angles the whole time.

Can I have a go?

How do you actually direct it?

How do you get it in

the right position?

So ideally you're pointing your cue,

the delivery stick, but also the

head that's on this cue

helps with rotation.

We don't have the use of sweepers,

once we let the stone go,

there is nothing we can

do to influence it.

It's going off to the right.

This is very difficult.

This is so difficult.

Fire away.

Ooh!

Although it is not

an easy sport, it is one

of people of any age

and any

disability to get into.

The team hopes that

its performance in

Pyeongchang will inspire

others to take it up.

Sign me up now!

Curling is more about

inclusion than exclusion.

All disabilities are

able to play the sport.

Do you feel like

ambassadors for the sport?

Definitely feel proud to be part

of the British squad.

For me, it's excitement

and looking forward to

getting out there.

We have been watching

the member and the women

and that inspires us and we are just

keen to get out there on the

ice ourself.

The team is aiming to win every

game, but the initial focus is

the round robin stage,

with the first match

against Norway on Saturday.

Nicky Fox, BBC News, Stirling.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have

been visiting Birmingham,

to launch a project to mark

International Women's Day,

aimed at inspiring female students

to take up careers in science,

technology and

engineering industries.

The royal couple spoke

to crowds outside the event -

some of whom had waited for several

hours to see them on the latest leg

of their tour of the country,

in advance of their wedding in May.

Now the weather forecast again. Snow

again for some people?

Now the weather forecast again. Snow

again for some people? No it won't

leave us. This is a weather watcher

scene in Yorkshire, which was badly

hit with several centimetres of snow

causing disruption. Other areas

started the day milder with sunshine

and a few rain showers. For the rest

of today, it is an improving

picture, certainly in the north-east

of the country. The snow and the

rain clearing off into the North Sea

A lot of sunshine for many places

this afternoon. Lighter winds in the

south. But still gusty in East

Anglia for a while. Temperatures up

to 10 degrees. And there will be

further showers in Scotland, these

falling as snow over the hills.

Further showers in western areas

tonight and the odd heavy one. But

most places will be dry with clear

skies and it will be another cold

one with some frost and ice where we

have had showers and some freezing

fog patches. The far south-west of

England, thicker cloud and

temperatures falling no lower than

four or five. We have low pressure

coming from the south-west bringing

milder air and strengthening winds.

We start off with a chilly note.

Some sunshine around. Northern

Ireland and central and southern

Scotland and northern and central

England. Some showers in northern

Scotland. Further south it will be

turning wet we are the rain pushing

through the south and into parts of

Wales as well. But the temperatures

will be coming up as the rain moves

north. It bill a wet weekend at

times and there is likely to be some

snow on the leading edge of the

front during Friday night and

Saturday across Scotland. Elsewhere

it will be wet, but given some

sunshine following behind in the

south, we could see temperatures up

to 14 or 15 Celsius. That is much

milder than what we have been used

to. That weather front continues to

move north on Sunday. You can see

this feature on the east coast, it

may bring some rain. But we have

another area of low pressure moving

into the south. Elsewhere apart from

some cloud we should see some

sunshine and it should be dry.

Milder further north into Scotland,

ten degrees there through the

central belt. But given sunshine in

the south we could see 14 degrees

again. Good news for those fed up

with the cold. Thank you.

again. Good news for those fed up

with the cold. Thank you. Raise

A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime.

The Home Secretary says

the attempted murder of a former

Russian spy and his daughter

using a nerve agent

is an outrageous crime.

The use of a nerve agent is a brazen

and reckless act. This was a

attempted murder in the most cruel

and public way.

That's all from the BBC News at One

so it's goodbye from me -