:00:18. > :00:24.First Scotland and now the rest of the UK is battered by a powerful
:00:25. > :00:28.storm. Two people are killed. One was a truck driver in West
:00:29. > :00:31.Lothian. Winds of up to a 100mph have disrupted transport and left
:00:32. > :00:32.tens of thousands of homes without power.
:00:33. > :00:35.Officials issue the highest category flood warnings. Tousands of homes
:00:36. > :00:44.are evacuated, from Rhyl in Wales to Great Yarmouth in Norflok. Ways were
:00:45. > :00:47.crashing and over that shelter and then doubling over the embankment
:00:48. > :00:53.wall, which has broken away. -- waves.
:00:54. > :00:57.There's a warning that tidal surge could be the worst in 60 years.
:00:58. > :00:59.Also on tonight's programme: George Osborne gives his most
:01:00. > :01:02.optimistic economic forecast yet. In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor
:01:03. > :01:05.said he wanted a responsible recovery and there are more tough
:01:06. > :01:10.decisions to come. The plan is working. It is a long-term plan for
:01:11. > :01:13.a grown-up country. But the job is not done. By doing the right thing,
:01:14. > :01:21.we're heading in the right direction. Britain's moving again.
:01:22. > :01:25.Let's keep going. For most people in our country, living standards are
:01:26. > :01:30.not rising, Mister Speaker, they are falling year on year on year.
:01:31. > :01:33.Millions will have to work longer - people in their thirties will have
:01:34. > :01:36.to wait until they are 69 for a state pension.
:01:37. > :01:40.There's some relief for commuters. Fuel duty will be frozen next year
:01:41. > :01:47.and train fares rises will be capped to the rate of inflation.
:01:48. > :01:50.Nigella Lawson faces more questions about her drug use. She tells a
:01:51. > :01:56.court she would rather be honest and ashamed.
:01:57. > :02:00.And coming up in the sport on BBC News, England fightback on the
:02:01. > :02:02.opening day of the second Ashes Test to finish strongly as it is honours
:02:03. > :02:23.even in Adelaide. Good evening and welcome to the BBC
:02:24. > :02:26.News At Six. A powerful storm that cut across
:02:27. > :02:31.Scotland in the early hours of the morning has now moved south. Two
:02:32. > :02:39.people have been killed - one in West Lothian and the other in
:02:40. > :02:42.Nottingham. High winds have battered parts of Scotland, Wales, Northern
:02:43. > :02:49.England and Northern Ireland. More than 100,000 homes are without
:02:50. > :02:52.power. The Environment Agency has issued 43 severe flood warnings.
:02:53. > :02:55.That's the highest category. Tonight, people from Lincolnshire to
:02:56. > :03:00.Kent are braced for what experts say could be the worst tidal surge in 60
:03:01. > :03:03.years. In the last half an hour, we have heard the Government's
:03:04. > :03:09.emergency committee has met for the second time today. In a moment, a
:03:10. > :03:15.report from Scotland but first, Jeremy Cooke in Cleethorpes.
:03:16. > :03:20.Yes, thanks and for most of the Day today, the story across northern
:03:21. > :03:36.Britain has been one of high winds but tonight, it is one of high
:03:37. > :03:40.water. It has breached the sea wall and is coming in over the road and
:03:41. > :03:46.we are still a full hour away from high tide.
:03:47. > :03:51.The force and the fury of nature. Northern Ireland in the firing
:03:52. > :03:57.line. This was Portstewart, battered by galeforce winds and massive
:03:58. > :04:03.waves. Soon, the surge hit the coast of North Wales. People in Rhyl had
:04:04. > :04:06.been told to prepare, but nothing could stop the water. There is no
:04:07. > :04:13.wall, no defence, just nothing there to stop it. The waves were crashing
:04:14. > :04:18.in over the top of that shelter and then doubling and over that big
:04:19. > :04:24.embankment wall, which has broken away. So this was a promenade. It is
:04:25. > :04:29.going to take a lot of digging out. Now it is England's eastern seaboard
:04:30. > :04:34.facing a red alert. Last-minute makeshift sandbagging, amidst
:04:35. > :04:39.warnings that tonight's storm surge could be the worst for 60 years. The
:04:40. > :04:43.government's emergency COBRA committee sending out a clear
:04:44. > :04:49.message. Pay close attention to announcements by the Environment
:04:50. > :04:55.Agency, local transport and local government, so in some places where
:04:56. > :04:58.local evacuations have commenced, I would ask everybody to cooperate
:04:59. > :05:01.with the local authorities. In Cleethorpes, they know to take the
:05:02. > :05:08.warnings seriously. In 1953, the flooding was devastating. Jane lived
:05:09. > :05:11.through that as a baby and then the floods of 1976. Now, again, she is
:05:12. > :05:18.fearing the worst. From where we are now, looking
:05:19. > :05:24.out... It is coming in fast. You are smiling, but it is worrying times.
:05:25. > :05:30.Oh, God, it is. If it does breach somewhere and it comes into our
:05:31. > :05:33.businesses, the mess... Several East Coast communities have been
:05:34. > :05:36.evacuated. These residents have been told to move out, to stay with
:05:37. > :05:44.family or friends or in community shelters. The advice is to evacuate
:05:45. > :05:50.the property. On the Norfolk coast, house-to-house calls urging people
:05:51. > :05:54.to say -- stay safe. I haven't been here when this has happened before,
:05:55. > :05:57.it is the first time it has been a natural emergency. High tide is not
:05:58. > :06:03.the end of the matter. There may be one more difficult day ahead. We are
:06:04. > :06:09.worried about three tides. The first one is at 10:45pm this evening. The
:06:10. > :06:14.next will be around 10am tomorrow morning and around 9:30pm tomorrow
:06:15. > :06:20.night after that, so this is a 36-48 hour flood operation, we would like
:06:21. > :06:23.to stress that. Tonight, the River Tyne in Newcastle has broken its
:06:24. > :06:25.banks as the rest of the English East Coast remains on the highest
:06:26. > :06:31.flood alert. The powerful storm struck Scotland
:06:32. > :06:35.this morning. Winds gusting at more than 140mph were recorded on Aonach
:06:36. > :06:38.Mor in the Highlands. The entire rail network was closed because of
:06:39. > :06:41.safety fears. A lorry driver was killed when his vehicle was blown
:06:42. > :06:50.over. Here's our Scotland Correspondent James Cook.
:06:51. > :06:56.The storm swept in just before dawn, with gusts of more than 100 mph. It
:06:57. > :07:00.could not have peaked at worst moment -- a worse moment, the height
:07:01. > :07:03.of rush hour, leaving the motorways blocked and tens of thousands of
:07:04. > :07:09.people stranded. The Forth Road Bridge was closed to all traffic
:07:10. > :07:13.except, it seems, at for one lone cyclist taking his life in his
:07:14. > :07:19.hands. The further out you go, the more exposed you are and the highest
:07:20. > :07:22.recorded speed was 191 mph. We assessed the situation and cleared
:07:23. > :07:27.the traffic from the bridge and deemed it too dangerous to leave
:07:28. > :07:30.personnel on the bridge. There were dangers elsewhere. This accident in
:07:31. > :07:33.West Lothian claimed the life of a lorry driver. His vehicle had
:07:34. > :07:39.apparently been blown onto these two cars. There were similar scenes
:07:40. > :07:41.across the central belt, as the emergency services battle to free
:07:42. > :07:48.people from the wreckage of metal and wood. It wasn't any easier in
:07:49. > :07:52.the air. This pilot's skill was put to the Test on the approach to
:07:53. > :07:58.Edinburgh airport. The railways were hit as well. Glasgow Central station
:07:59. > :08:02.was closed when debris hit the roof, as the entire Scottish rail
:08:03. > :08:08.network came to a halt. Apparently, the glass fell in in the train
:08:09. > :08:12.station and just now, I was in the room and the window just flew open
:08:13. > :08:15.and the alarms started going. I'm sure it will be fine when they get
:08:16. > :08:21.it sorted but it is delaying everything today, we can't do
:08:22. > :08:26.anything about it. At the height of the storm, the power companies say
:08:27. > :08:31.130,000 homes were without electricity. 50,000 in the south of
:08:32. > :08:36.Scotland, 80,000 in the North. Hundreds of engineers have been
:08:37. > :08:39.working to restore supplies. And everywhere you look, there is
:08:40. > :08:43.damage. You can see here the real power of the storm as it swept
:08:44. > :08:46.across Scotland this morning and forecasters say there is more to
:08:47. > :08:52.come. Blizzards and flooding to follow. This afternoon, those
:08:53. > :08:57.blizzards arrived with a vengeance. As the temperature drops, police are
:08:58. > :09:02.now warning of snow and ice and a difficult day is giving way to a
:09:03. > :09:08.dangerous night. Let's go back to Jeremy in
:09:09. > :09:12.Cleethorpes. How are people preparing for this tidal surge you
:09:13. > :09:18.have been talking about? Well, we have seen lots of
:09:19. > :09:21.businesses along the seafront here sandbagging their properties as best
:09:22. > :09:27.as they can come using black bin liners, rather than sandbags, which
:09:28. > :09:31.are in short supply. The residential areas which are likely to be
:09:32. > :09:34.affected have, as we have seen, been evacuated and they have been told to
:09:35. > :09:38.go to friends and family or shelters. And really, this is, as
:09:39. > :09:43.you say, a massive inconvenience that so many people but we should
:09:44. > :09:46.remember this has been a day of tragedy in Scotland with a lorry
:09:47. > :09:50.driver who lost his life and in England, in Nottinghamshire, when a
:09:51. > :09:55.man lost his life because of a falling tree, we understand.
:09:56. > :09:59.Jeremy, thank you very much. To keep up-to-date with the latest in your
:10:00. > :10:03.area, you can tune into your local BBC radio station or go to our
:10:04. > :10:13.website. Our other main story tonight:
:10:14. > :10:17.the Chancellor's Autumn Statement -the first one he's been able to
:10:18. > :10:21.deliver against a backdrop of higher growth, higher employment and lower
:10:22. > :10:25.borrowing. Mister Osborne told the Commons that
:10:26. > :10:28.the growth forecast this year had more than doubled. And with
:10:29. > :10:31.borrowing falling faster than expected, the independent Office for
:10:32. > :10:37.Budget Responsibility predicts a small surplus by 2018. The statement
:10:38. > :10:41.included help for young people, small businesses and retailers. But
:10:42. > :10:44.the squeeze goes on. Millions of people will have to work longer
:10:45. > :10:47.before they are entitled to their state pension. James Landale was
:10:48. > :10:52.watching the Autumn Statement and has sent this report.
:10:53. > :10:57.Christmas has come to Westminster. The season of goodwill, but not
:10:58. > :11:00.always one of good finances. The Chancellor normally lives for the
:11:01. > :11:04.House of Commons this time of year with a sack full of bad news.
:11:05. > :11:08.But... Is there any Christmas cheer?
:11:09. > :11:13.Today, there was. In the Green book, George Osborne had what he saw as
:11:14. > :11:18.tidings of great joy and made his way to Parliament knowing that the
:11:19. > :11:25.Tory faithful would be joyful and triumphant. Britain's economic plan
:11:26. > :11:32.is working. But the job... But the job is not done. Britain is
:11:33. > :11:37.currently growing faster than any other major advanced economy. Far
:11:38. > :11:42.from the mass unemployment that was predicted, we have a record number
:11:43. > :11:47.of people in work, hundreds of thousands fewer on welfare.
:11:48. > :11:58.Borrowing is then come he said, and by 2018... The OBR do not expect a
:11:59. > :12:04.deficit at all. Instead, they expect Britain to run a small surplus. That
:12:05. > :12:08.was music to Tory ears, but, and it was a big but, the Chancellor said
:12:09. > :12:12.all of this growth is not enough to get rid of the deficit. Spending
:12:13. > :12:17.would still have to be cut. We will not let up in dealing with our
:12:18. > :12:21.country's debts. We will not spend the money from lower borrowing. We
:12:22. > :12:24.will not squander the hard earned gains of the British people. The
:12:25. > :12:28.stability and the low mortgage rates, the lower deficit and falling
:12:29. > :12:30.borrowing have been hard earned gains of the British people. The
:12:31. > :12:32.stability and the low mortgage rates, the lower deficit and falling
:12:33. > :12:38.borrowing have been hard-won they could easily be lost. So he can out
:12:39. > :12:41.the spending cuts still to come. Another ?3 billion from Whitehall
:12:42. > :12:47.budgets over the next three years. And... From next year, total cap on
:12:48. > :12:54.welfare spending. And many others will have to do work longer before
:12:55. > :12:58.we can claim our pension. We think a fair principle is that as of now,
:12:59. > :13:03.people should expect to spend one third of their life in retirement,
:13:04. > :13:06.and according to the latest figures, that would have been
:13:07. > :13:16.increasing the state pension age to 68 in the mid-30s and higher in the
:13:17. > :13:21.mid-40s. There would be a crackdown on tax evasion, non-UK residents
:13:22. > :13:27.would have to pay taxes on their properties, and this year's fuel
:13:28. > :13:31.duty rise has been scrapped, rail fares up less than expected, tax
:13:32. > :13:37.breaks from some married couples from 2015 and more school meals for
:13:38. > :13:41.free, at least until 2015. And there was hell to get small firms
:13:42. > :13:45.investing. Business rates capped at 2%. The smallest firms free from
:13:46. > :13:49.rates for another year and a ?1000 discount for pubs, cafes and small
:13:50. > :13:53.shops. And to help businesses and young people, the Chancellor says he
:13:54. > :13:58.will scrap employer National Insurance for anyone under the age
:13:59. > :14:03.of 21. This statement shows the plan is working. It is a long-term plan
:14:04. > :14:07.for a grown-up country. But the job is not done. By doing the right
:14:08. > :14:15.thing, we are heading in the right direction. Britain is moving again,
:14:16. > :14:20.let's keep going. Not good enough, say Labour. There may be a recovery
:14:21. > :14:24.but it is not helping everyone, as their new poster claims. In the
:14:25. > :14:26.Commons, red-faced shadow Chancellor struggled to get heard. As Tory
:14:27. > :14:34.shouted, he called the economy wrong. For all of his boasting and
:14:35. > :14:40.utterly breathtaking complacency, the Chancellor is in complete
:14:41. > :14:45.denial. Under this Chancellor and this Prime Minister, for most people
:14:46. > :14:50.in our country, living standards are not rising, Mr speaker, they are
:14:51. > :14:58.falling year on year on year. He used to say he would balance the
:14:59. > :15:02.books in 2015. Now he once that macro now he wants us to
:15:03. > :15:07.congratulate him for saying he will do it in 2019 --now he wants us to
:15:08. > :15:14.congratulate him for saying he will do it in 2090. Bilson, Mister
:15:15. > :15:17.Osborne was more Scrooge than Santa. There are ?3 billion more of cuts to
:15:18. > :15:21.come, it is misery on top of austerity and people will have to
:15:22. > :15:25.work until they are 70 to claim the basic state pension. Tonight, the
:15:26. > :15:28.Chancellor got the headlines he wanted. The real Test will be
:15:29. > :15:34.whether voters think today's good news is not just for Christmas, but
:15:35. > :15:41.for many years to come. Other measures today include a rise in the
:15:42. > :15:46.state pension of 2. .95 a week, free school dinners for infants until
:15:47. > :15:50.2015. Plans for councils to sell expensive social housing an
:15:51. > :15:56.regenerate run-down estates. Support for exports by British businesses
:15:57. > :16:02.will be doubled to 50 billion and tax allowances for shale gas. Those
:16:03. > :16:05.are some of the details. Now our chief economics correspondent has
:16:06. > :16:10.looked at how the big picture has changed in recent months.
:16:11. > :16:14.Inside number 11 they're probably thinking, what a difference eight
:16:15. > :16:17.months makes. The economic climate on the day of the Autumn Statement
:16:18. > :16:21.is fair. Turn back through the last few months to the time of the Budget
:16:22. > :16:24.in march and -- March and it was gloomier. At that time there were
:16:25. > :16:29.fears of another recession. The growth forecast from the Office for
:16:30. > :16:34.Budget Responsibility was just 0. 6%. After an upturn over the summer,
:16:35. > :16:39.the latest forecasters pushed up growth to 1. 4%. Next year has been
:16:40. > :16:45.revised up too. Unemployment is predicted to fall from 7. 6% of the
:16:46. > :16:49.workforce this year to 7. 7.1% next year. Close to the level at which
:16:50. > :16:54.the Bank of England will consider interest rate rises.
:16:55. > :16:58.The cut in public spending, the reduction in public sector
:16:59. > :17:04.employment and the ongoing squeeze in real wages are all matters that
:17:05. > :17:07.are of concern to eeconomists. Over-- economists. Overall there is
:17:08. > :17:12.a sustainable improvement in the economy and that will outweigh some
:17:13. > :17:16.of the risk factors. News not so welcome to the Treasury, the Office
:17:17. > :17:24.for Budget Responsibility slightly reviled down growth forecasts from
:17:25. > :17:30.2015 saying there was uncertainty over longer run projects. Web the
:17:31. > :17:36.financial years -- web the financial years 2014 and it 2017/18 the
:17:37. > :17:43.forecast was ?433 billion of borrowing over that period. That's
:17:44. > :17:48.been re-viced down to ?360 billion. There's a surplus predicted for
:17:49. > :17:55.2018/19. But to achieve that means continued curbs on spending. The
:17:56. > :17:59.scale of the cuts announced for 2015/16 is substantial. Then two
:18:00. > :18:03.more years of significant cuts on public service spending, probably
:18:04. > :18:07.bigger than the cuts we've seen over the years of this Parliament. Then
:18:08. > :18:12.if we're going into surplus after that, another year of no increase.
:18:13. > :18:17.Yes, austerity has got a long way to run. In a move to help businesses,
:18:18. > :18:21.the Chancellor capped their rate increases, smaller retailers got an
:18:22. > :18:27.extra boost with a ?1,000 discount on their bills, a move designed to
:18:28. > :18:30.stemming the tide of store closures. It was the right call from the
:18:31. > :18:34.Chancellor to tackle the thorny issue of business rates. The cost of
:18:35. > :18:38.property is one of the things which is damaging the High Street. One
:18:39. > :18:42.thing which hasn't improved since March is overall Government debt.
:18:43. > :18:45.That's still rising. A few more years of economic growth will be
:18:46. > :18:51.needed before it gets on a downward trend.
:18:52. > :18:55.That change to the state pension age has been brought into force a decade
:18:56. > :18:59.earlier than expected, a move that will affect millions of people. It
:19:00. > :19:05.means those now in their 40s will have to work until 68 before
:19:06. > :19:08.becoming eligible for a pension. Reeta Chakrabarti is in Bristol
:19:09. > :19:14.finding out what people young and old made of the Chancellor's speech.
:19:15. > :19:17.How long with baby Ellen have to work before she gets a state
:19:18. > :19:24.pension? Longer than her mum Dianne, that's for sure. She has to work
:19:25. > :19:27.longer than her mum, Maureen. On hearing George Osborne say the state
:19:28. > :19:31.pension age was going up, Dianne, along with her husband John was
:19:32. > :19:38.resigned. I think keeping busy is the key. Having to work till 69, 70,
:19:39. > :19:42.it makes no odds to me really. That's the age we have to work to,
:19:43. > :19:46.then that's what we have to do. But Maureen, who is in her late 50s says
:19:47. > :19:52.working at an older age isn't easy. As you get older, your health
:19:53. > :19:56.deteriorates. Thinking that my daughter and son-in-law will have to
:19:57. > :20:01.work until they're 69, we've no idea how they're going to feel by then.
:20:02. > :20:05.The state pension age was already set to increase in line with
:20:06. > :20:10.improving life expectancy. Now some changes will happen a decade sooner,
:20:11. > :20:15.around 2035. If you're in your 40s, it means you will wait until you're
:20:16. > :20:20.68 to retire on a state pension. Those in their 30s, will probably
:20:21. > :20:25.work to 69. If you're younger, you may reach 70 before being able to
:20:26. > :20:31.claim. The youngest but one member of the family, Maya, will from next
:20:32. > :20:34.year get a free school dinner, as George Osborne confirmed, so will
:20:35. > :20:39.everyone in infant school across England. While university is some
:20:40. > :20:44.way off for these youngsters, there'll be more places from next
:20:45. > :20:50.year though twis fees maximum are still ?9,000. Down the road from the
:20:51. > :20:56.school, the own of this Bristol dee is weighing up his options. The
:20:57. > :21:03.Chancellor announced 20,000 more apprenticeships. But for employees
:21:04. > :21:06.under 21 he's scrapped national insurance contributions. There's a
:21:07. > :21:10.saving to be made. It would help us take people on and train them up to
:21:11. > :21:17.get them to be what we need in the business. It's not as if Christmas
:21:18. > :21:22.has come early for all young people. George Osborne linked welfare to the
:21:23. > :21:25.under 201s to Cornwall I -- 21s to qualifications and training. I would
:21:26. > :21:29.rather be out there working and making money. But then people who
:21:30. > :21:36.need it, then they need it. How else will they live? You have to train
:21:37. > :21:39.because it's just a waste of time and taxpayers' money other-wise.
:21:40. > :21:43.George Osborne has brought Christmas cheer for some young people. Unlike
:21:44. > :21:51.Santa, for others, he's taken it away.
:21:52. > :21:54.Let's hear from our political editor, Nick Robinson, in
:21:55. > :21:57.Westminster. We said earlier this was the first statement where the
:21:58. > :22:02.growth numbers were going up for the Chancellor. But you didn't get a
:22:03. > :22:06.sense of mission accomplished. No, and he didn't want you to get that
:22:07. > :22:09.Seb. Much -- sense. It was an important moment for him and a good
:22:10. > :22:13.day in this sense: He's had to rip up his economic forecast many times
:22:14. > :22:16.in the past, but he's never had to rip them up and tell you that the
:22:17. > :22:21.news is better than expected. Today he was able to do that on growth and
:22:22. > :22:25.borrowing. There was a number in the official and independent forecasts
:22:26. > :22:30.that said the budgetary black hole, the problem, the so-called
:22:31. > :22:34.structural deficit in the jargon, that isn't getting smaller simply
:22:35. > :22:38.because the economy is growing more. That allowed the Chancellor to say
:22:39. > :22:41.the job isn't done yet. He's saying to the electorate, keep me after the
:22:42. > :22:45.election, you need to keep this Government doing the things it's
:22:46. > :22:49.doing now. Labour responded by saying all of this good news misses
:22:50. > :22:53.the point that for most people they're feeling worse off than they
:22:54. > :22:57.did before and the figures show that even while the economy grows they
:22:58. > :23:00.will feel worse off at next election than at the last. There's no doubt
:23:01. > :23:04.that George Osborne had an easier day than Ed Balls, who ended up
:23:05. > :23:08.shouting over the Tory MPs who were shouting at him. But the real test
:23:09. > :23:11.is who you believe - do you agree with the Chancellor that the glass
:23:12. > :23:19.is half full? Or do you agree with Ed Balls that the glass is more than
:23:20. > :23:20.half empty? There's comprehensive analysis of the Autumn Statement on
:23:21. > :23:34.the BBC News website. The time is 6. 23pm. Our top story
:23:35. > :23:40.this evening: Authorities are warning of the worst tidal surge in
:23:41. > :23:44.60 years as a powerful storm hits the UK. And in his Autumn Statement,
:23:45. > :23:50.George Osborne says the British economy is bouncing back, but that
:23:51. > :23:56.the job is not yet finished. In Sportsday on BBC News: World
:23:57. > :23:58.champion Ronny O'Sullivan is out of the UK Snooker Championship, beaten
:23:59. > :24:15.in the quarter finals. Nigella Lawson has objected to her
:24:16. > :24:18.treatment as a witness since admitting she'd taken drugs, telling
:24:19. > :24:22.a court this afternoon, "If you want to put me on trial, put me on
:24:23. > :24:27.trial." The TV chef was testifying at the trial of two of her former
:24:28. > :24:37.assistants, Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo. Both sisters deny fraud. (
:24:38. > :24:40.report contains flash photography. Ms Lawson aroifd at court to face
:24:41. > :24:45.pay second day of questions about her alleged drug addiction. In
:24:46. > :24:52.court, she denied drug dealers had visited her home and that she had
:24:53. > :24:55.hidden cocaine in her handbag. In an emotional outburst she said, "If you
:24:56. > :25:00.want to put me on trial, put me on trial." She said of her former
:25:01. > :25:03.husband, "I have been bullied. I am not going to continue to be
:25:04. > :25:08.bullied." She was often photographed with her former husband Charles
:25:09. > :25:12.Saatchi in the past. But this summer these paparazzi photos were
:25:13. > :25:18.published showing Mr Saatchi with his hand around Miss Lawson's neck.
:25:19. > :25:25.The couple divorced shortly after. She's giving evidence in the trial
:25:26. > :25:31.of her former personal assistants. They deny dishonestly spending on a
:25:32. > :25:37.company credit card. Miss Lawson denied claims that she authorised
:25:38. > :25:44.lavish spending by Francesca Grillo. "I can be totally sure I didn't say
:25:45. > :25:47.go and spend ?7,000 on yourself." Her admission that she used cocaine
:25:48. > :25:54.has attracted the world's media. She told the court she would not be
:25:55. > :26:00.talking about it again. Let's return to one of our main
:26:01. > :26:06.stories today, the Autumn Statement. Robert, the Chancellor said he wants
:26:07. > :26:11.a responsible recovery. Is that what he's getting? He is not taking any
:26:12. > :26:15.great risks. His Autumn Statement was what economists would call
:26:16. > :26:24.fiscally neutral. That means that the spending increases and tax cuts
:26:25. > :26:29.were paid for. But the actual recovery, perhaps, doesn't seem
:26:30. > :26:34.quite as sustainable as he might like, certainly that's the view of
:26:35. > :26:40.his own Office for Budget Responsibility. It says that the
:26:41. > :26:44.jump in growth has been fuelled by a resurgence of consumer spending,
:26:45. > :26:50.which it had not been expecting and that that jump in consumer spending
:26:51. > :26:54.has been caused by people effectively saving less, not
:26:55. > :27:01.spending the proceeds of increased income. That can't go on for all
:27:02. > :27:06.that long. The strength of this recovery will depend on whether
:27:07. > :27:10.businesses start to invest again. The OBR expects them to. But that is
:27:11. > :27:17.not guaranteed. There's one other thing, which I'm afraid made me feel
:27:18. > :27:21.slightly gloomy. The OBR is pretty pessimistic to the extent that
:27:22. > :27:25.productivity per worker will rise. That led to a really startling,
:27:26. > :27:30.disappointing conclusion, which is that public finances on the
:27:31. > :27:32.Chancellor's important measure are actually a bit worse. Thank you very
:27:33. > :27:36.much. Now in a moment, hay full weather
:27:37. > :27:41.forecast. First a reminder of some of the images from a day which has
:27:42. > :27:45.brought danger and disruption. Scotland took the brunt of the storm
:27:46. > :27:53.initially. The driver of a lorry was killed when it was blown over by
:27:54. > :27:57.gale-force winds in West Lothian. In Rhyl lifeboats were used to rescue
:27:58. > :28:02.people from flooded homes. Hundreds of people had to take refuge in an
:28:03. > :28:06.emergency centre. The authorities have urged 10,000 residents in
:28:07. > :28:12.Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to leave their homes urgently ahead of the
:28:13. > :28:16.first surge which is expected tonight. Here's the weather
:28:17. > :28:20.forecast. It has been an evolving situation
:28:21. > :28:23.throughout the day today. We started off stormy, very wet and windy,
:28:24. > :28:29.particularly in low-lying levels across the northern half of the
:28:30. > :28:33.country. Gusts in excess of 90mph. Then the winds started to transfer
:28:34. > :28:37.south across the north of England and stretching down across that
:28:38. > :28:42.North Sea coastline into East Anglia as well. Now the issue is this storm
:28:43. > :28:46.surge that we've been talking about. We need really three ingredients,
:28:47. > :28:55.this area of low pressure crossing us, we need strong winds, and high
:28:56. > :28:57.spring tides. That's resulting in 28 severe weather warnings, flood
:28:58. > :29:01.warnings being issued for East Anglia and the south-east corner. On
:29:02. > :29:05.top of that, with the winds ease figure away through the night --
:29:06. > :29:08.easing away through the night, we could see snow showers develop in
:29:09. > :29:12.the far north-east. As they ease away, falling on freezing
:29:13. > :29:17.temperatures, wide spread ice could be a problem across the far north.
:29:18. > :29:22.In rural spots temperatures down as low as minus five to minus nine. It
:29:23. > :29:27.starts bitterly cold in Scotland. Not as windy. Temperatures still
:29:28. > :29:30.below freezing at 8am. Yes, some icy surfaces around. They're not as cold
:29:31. > :29:34.in Northern Ireland. A few showers around and stretching through the
:29:35. > :29:40.Cheshire gap into the Midlands as well. Anywhere south of that line
:29:41. > :29:45.into the south-west it stays milder. Temperatures first thing around
:29:46. > :29:50.three, six degrees. The mild air trying to move in through the
:29:51. > :29:53.south-west all the day. Friday is bitterly cold into the north. We see
:29:54. > :30:01.showers, longer spells of rain brushing into the west, still wintry
:30:02. > :30:07.as well. Temperatures in Scotland really struggling. Plenty happening
:30:08. > :30:10.through the night tonight. -- tonight. More details throughout the
:30:11. > :30:15.evening. That's all from the BBC's news at
:30:16. > :30:16.6pm. It's goodbye from me and on BBC One, we join our teams where you
:30:17. > :30:19.are.