13/07/2017 BBC News at Six

Another big step towards Brexit as the government publishes

its plans to convert EU law into British law.

Ministers call for all parties to work with them, but already

the opposition is calling for changes to be made

The Prime Minister faces a difficult path ahead without a Parliamentary

majority, she says that she was devastated by the election result.

Devastated another to shed a tear? Yes, a little tear. At that moment?

Yes, at that moment. We'll be looking at the challenges ahead for

the government. Also tonight. The parents of baby Charlie Gard

return to court as an American doctor says a trial therapy

could give a chance Major changes to the way ambulances

in England are dispatched to help ensure the sickest patients get

treated the fastest. The French president welcomes

Donald Trump to Paris And the end of a dream

for Britain's Johanna Konta, as she crashes out of the Wimbledon

semi finals. Coming up: as well as the reaction

to the exit of the Anaconda Vice we will be rounding up all of the day

's other stories. -- the exit of Johanna Konta.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at 6.

It's another major step on Britain's path to leaving the European Union.

The government has finally published its long awaited plans

to pave the way for EU law to be transferred into British law.

The European Union Withdrawal Bill is being described as one

of the largest legal projects ever undertaken in the UK.

The government's called for all parties to work together

But already Labour is calling for significant changes,

and the Liberal Democrats are warning they will make life

The bill will take an estimated 12,000 EU laws

and copy them into UK law on the day that the UK

The government will then have powers to amend laws as it sees fit.

Our political Editor Laura Kuenssberg has this report,

a warning that it contains some flashing images.

VOICEOVER: Has nothing changed? Still doing the handshakes, rolling

out the red carpet for royalty, Spanish, this time. Still embarking

on the task of taking us out of the European Union. No, everything has

changed, for the first time today, the Prime Minister explaining her

shock at the election. I felt, I suppose, devastated, because, as I

say, I knew the campaign was not going perfectly, but still, the

messages I was getting from people I was speaking to, but also, the

comments we were getting back from a lot of people, that were being

passed on to me, were that we were going to get a better result than we

did. Devastated another to shed a tear? Well... Yes, a little tear.

Yes. At that moment? Yes, at that moment, yes. And then you have two

brush yourself down. You have a responsibility, you are a human

being, you have been through the experience. I was there as leader of

the party and Prime Minister. I had a responsibility then as we went

through the night to determine what we were going to do the next

morning. Presentation of Bill. It will not get any easier... Today,

the bill that will legally take us out of the European Union arrived in

Parliament. Broadly, the withdrawal bill cuts and pastes thousands of EU

laws that govern so much right now into British law. As we leave, they

will not apply. With Theresa May's shaky grip, MPs will inevitably try

to make big changes. I think there is a big understanding out among

ministers, across-the-board, that there will need to be a bit of

compromise, there will need to be inevitable changes. Many ministers

the withdrawal bill is such a huge undertaking, it gives ministers the

power to change or strike out swathes of regulation without

guaranteeing MPs a say. This bill as it stands would give ministers like

you sweeping powers to change, get rid of bits and pieces of regulation

that you do not like, without MPs having a guaranteed vote and full

debate. These are hardly massive changes, they are technical changes

to make the law work. It is up to the House of Commons, if a statutory

instrument is placed in the House of Commons, then they have to decide.

But they are not guaranteed vote unless today you want to give them a

guarantee...? That is in the Hall of the House of Commons, what it

chooses to vote on. It is not just a ministerial signature, it is a

statutory instrument, which can be debated and voted upon. Labour is

making its own way. Asking for its own meetings in Brussels, trying to

get the EU's negotiator onside. A football shirt! Playing for Arsenal!

Although it may take more than an Arsenal shirt to do that, but there

is no way, as it stands, that Labour will back the bill. We will make

sure there is full Parliamentary scrutiny, that has to be key to it,

we have a Parliament where the government does not have a majority

and the country has voted in two ways, on leave and remain, the

majority voted to leave, we respect that but they did not vote to lose

jobs, they did not vote to have Parliament ridden roughshod over.

Nor will the Scottish Government, Nicola Sturgeon with their own Kodak

moment in Brussels today, the Scottish Parliament cannot

technically veto the plan, but it can refuse consent. As the bill

stands now, in good conscience I could not recommend to the Scottish

Parliament that against legislative consent... It takes hours away and

undermines the very foundations of the devolution settlement that the

parliament is built on. As Whitehall begins this enormous process,

ministers are all too well aware that there will be conflict ahead.

The question, how they balance compromise and hang onto their

credibility. And what ends up on the statute books does not just sit on

the shelf, but shapes how ministers govern, how we live our lives.

STUDIO: Laura is in Westminster. Challenging path ahead. Yes,

Minister is all too well aware that the chances of getting this through

without making concessions are slim to none. The political decision is

when they start compromising. And what areas are they prepared to

budge. -- ministers. On some parts of this huge undertaking, there is

an air of flexibility around, David Davis suggested that the government

might pursue a social membership of Euratom, which is the membership

safety union is part of being part of the European Union, bundling is

about eight rebellion in the air and we may look at an association way of

staying in. -- about a rebellion in the air. He also talked about

arbitration mechanism, jargon about panels of judges from around Europe

and Britain, a way of getting around a difficult problem where Britain

wants its judges to be in charge of everything and Brussels wants

European judges to be in charge of everything. There are some areas

where we start to see the government bend a little bit, why is that?

Because they know they have two, they are up against the clock,

ticking louder and louder, and of course, since the election, their

authority has taken a knock. -- because they know they have to.

An American doctor has told the High Court that a trial therapy

in the States could give a chance of meaningful improvement

to the condition of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard.

His parents returned to court today for the latest stage of their legal

Now the judge is considering whether to ask the American

specialist to come to the UK to assess the baby's condition.

Our Medical Correspondent Fergus Walsh reports.

VOICEOVER: They call themselves Charlie 's Army, some of the half a

million people who have signed a petition calling for him to be

allowed abroad for spamming treatment. Chris Carter and Connie

Yates reject evidence from Charlie's doctors that their son has

irreversible brain damage. -- Chris Gard. We love him more than life

itself, if he is still fighting, we are still fighting. Charlie is

terminally, cannot move or breathe unaided, four courts have already

ruled that he should be allowed to die. The evidence came from video

link from the American doctor offering to treat Charlie, he says

he now has a better understanding of the benefits of the therapy, of nine

patients treated so far, none of whom have the same genetic mutation

as Charlie, five now spend less time each day on a ventilator and one of

them could breathe completely unaided. This led him to conclude

that there was at least a 10% chance of meaningful improvement for

Charlie. Six-year-old as a muscle wasting condition and is one of

those treated in the US with this therapy, a powder which is added to

food. We are able to give in the medication. Little by little he

started to get stronger. They gave us hope. I did not care if he was

the first human to try these medications, because they told us he

was going to die. At one point, Charlie's parents walked out of

court after the judge said they agreed their son has no quality of

life. Connie Yates said, he is not suffering or in pain. In a

statement, great Ormond Street said, Charlie is a beautiful tiny baby,

afflicted by one of the crew list of diseases. Is depleted genetic

disorder leaves in with no muscle function at all and deprived of his

senses, unable to breathe, and so far as can be discerned, without any

awareness. A final decision of the court is aimed to be in the best

interests of Charlie, that would be a balance of the many risks and

benefits. It is not black and white but it will be a summation of all

the possible benefits and all the possible risks and what that could

do for Charlie, not what it does for anybody else. Charlie remains in

intensive care at Great Ormond Street Hospital, his future

unresolved, as the legal arguments drag on.

STUDIO: It's being hailed as the biggest shake up

of ambulance response times in England in 40 years.

At the moment, when an urgent 999 call is received,

the call handlers have to decide within 60 seconds whether or not

The upshot is that a quarter of ambulances end up being stood

down when it turns out they're not needed.

Now call handlers are going to be given more time to assess

to try to make the system more efficient.

Just breathe normally for me. Paramedics in the West Midlands with

a 92-year-old patient, after a checkup, they decided it was safe to

leave him at home. The Ambulance Service is under great pressure, the

current system allows too many vehicles to go to urgent cases,

leaving other patients waiting far too long, major changes are now

planned. The new way of working will mean that we can identify and get to

the sickest patients faster, that all patients will get the best

response, rather than just the nearest. Under the current system of

control room like this, call handlers have just 60 seconds to

decide whether to dispatch an ambulance and whether it should be

on a blue light for the most critically ill patients. The problem

is, that sometimes is not long enough to decide the most

appropriate response, and ambulances can be dispatched unnecessarily.

That decision time will be axed ended for serious but not

life-threatening cases, under the current system, the target is for an

ambulance to arrive at 75% of the most urgent cases in eight minutes,

no target for those calls last as lower priority. Under the new

system, more people will be classed as the most urgent and the target

will be 90% seen within 15 minutes. New targets for lower priority

calls. Service leaders say some people needing urgent care will have

to wait longer. But they can be more certain of getting the right

response, an ambulance team, for example, rather than a paramedic on

a motorcycle. The system as it is failed the family of Willie Wynn,

his daughter had a heart condition, she had arbitration, he called 990

96 times and nothing came, it was too late to save her. Had people had

a broken arm or a broken leg, then it would have been different. -- he

called 999 six times. This was an emergency. The local ambulance

trust, South Central, said it extended condolences to the family,

at the time, many of its resources were tied up elsewhere. And what

time did this start today? Reforms have already been introduced in

Wales, a pilot scheme underway in Scotland. Trials in England suggest

more ambulances can be freed up to get to a wider range of patients.

The real test will come this winter when it is introduced nationally.

STUDIO: The parent company of Southern Rail has been fined more

after widespread delays and cancellations to services.

The Department for Transport says the amount would have been much

higher, but most of the problems were caused by strike action

A former soldier who raped and killed a fifteen year

old schoolgirl has been found guilty of her manslaughter more

Stephen Hough killed Janet Commins in Flint in North Wales, in 1976.

Another man has already served six years for her killing.

Hough will be sentenced at a later date.

The next step in the Brexit journey - the government publishes its plans

We tell you how you can have a whale of a time

And coming up on Wimbledon Sportsday on BBC News:

As well as the reaction to Johanna Konta's exit, there's

losing the yellow jersey on stage 12 of the Tour de France.

Johanna Konta's dream of becoming the first British woman to reach

the Wimbledon finals in almost 40 years is over.

She's crashed out of the championships after being beaten

in straight sets by the five time champion Venus Williams.

Joe Wilson was watching the match on centre court.

Everyone knows your name, everyone wants your name. That's the

Wimbledon effect. Johanna Konta ushered towards the biggest match of

her career, for her the attention is all new. For Venus Williams it's

been her life. 20 years at Wimbledon, two decades competing for

the biggest titles. Venus has seen it all, returned it all, but

Konta... Not appear to be intimidated. Konta created an

opportunity in the first set, break point in the ninth game. Venus held.

And then the pressure. Konta's rock-solid serve was suddenly shaky.

These were the points she had to make. Out, break, set gone. Venus

taking care of business. For Konta the methodical, the reliable, the

match was disappearing. Double fault and broken in the second set. Now

said to court yearned for the Konta we had seen in previous rounds, this

kind of thing. Now come on, it's a lovely afternoon, we would like to

stay here for a bit longer please. This match lasted one hour 14

minutes, second set 6-2, Williams too good, to composed when it

mattered. Overwhelmed by Williams at Wimbledon, it has happened before

but we didn't expect it from Konta. Quite honestly I think I was in just

as much of a shot of winning the tournament. It came down to the day

and Venus played better than me. That's all I can say, I think I've

definitely got more to improve on and there's more exciting things I

can get better at. She's going to be disappointed but at the same time

when she can wake up in a few days and get perspective of what she has

accomplished, she's shown tremendous improvement and that is so positive

for her. Venus was in tears last week speaking about events at home,

the car accident. Now at 37, she has another final at a place she loves.

I thought the crowd was very nice to me. They could have been even more

boisterous, I thought the crowd was so fair and I know they love Jo.

It's a lot of pressure on she handled it well, I think my

experience helped a lot. So now Johanna Konta has a new experience

to deal with, to recover from defeat in the match of her life.

Johanna Konta is ranked as one of the world's best players but the

future offers no guarantees of another place like this one. To see

the power of self belief, just look at Venus Williams.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has welcomed

Donald Trump to Paris at the start of a two-day visit.

Tomorrow President Trump will attend Bastille Day celebrations.

Today Mr Trump said his son was a wonderful young man who met the

Russian lawyer, not a Russian government lawyer.

From Paris, Lucy Williamson reports.

If diplomacy is about power disguised as flattery,

there are few more potent greetings than a ten second handshake.

Emmanuel Macron welcomed Donald Trump today with a visit to the tomb

of France's grand military leader, Napoleon.

The impressive location designed to flatter both visitor and host.

Both these two men see themselves as modern-day

political revolutionaries, sweeping away the old rules

but Mr Macron also sees nothing wrong with using France's

imperial history and military might to put its current diplomatic

The two men have been battling for the role of alpha male ever

since their first handshake on the sidelines of a G7 summit.

Donald Trump later pulled out of a key climate change

deal brokered in Paris, prompting Mr Macron to issue

a video parodying the US President's campaign slogan.

But since then Emmanuel Macron has been trying to charm the US leader

to keep ties close and boost France's influence aboard.

So what do French voters think of Mr Trump's visit?

I don't like him much, but what do I have to say?

Thank God! Having some time with him and trying to understand what he

wants and where he's going is not a bad idea, even if he does not

appreciate him as a person or what he stands for so I think French

diplomacy at its best. Their meeting this afternoon will focus on shared

challenges like the conflict in Syria and counterterrorism but the

symbolism of this visit is properly what matters most. Two leaders

looking to showcase their transatlantic ties. Both men have

been compared to Napoleon themselves. Flattering to some,

perhaps, but a reminder too about the limits of democratic power. Lucy

Williamson, BBC News, Paris. An artistocrat has been sentenced

to 12 weeks in prison after being found guilty of making

menacing communications towards the businesswoman

and anti-Brexit campaigner Rhodri Philipps, the fourth

Viscount St Davids, wrote a post on Facebook offering

?5,000 to anyone who ran her over. The 4th Viscount St Davids,

Rhodri Philipps, forced to answer for his threatening

abuse on Facebook. Well, justice will be

served without pressure. I have belief in the British courts

and anything that I've done wrong... He targeted Gina Miller,

who took the Government to court over Brexit,

writing to accidentally run over this

troublesome first-generation If this is what we should

expect from immigrants," he wrote, "send them back

to their stinking jungles." At first I sort of read it

and re-read it because it seemed so barbaric, but that was the first

time I felt truly threatened. Lord St Davids was given the chance

to speak to the court in person and in a passionate speech

he said he'd realised that his comments were very unkind,

unnecessary, self-indulgent expletives of anger

which he could not contain. He'd claimed he was motivated by his

family motto - love of country. The district judge, Emma Arbuthnot,

said it was actually hatred of anyone who disagreed

with his views and of those who had Privileged, entitled,

and now heading to jail. An establishment man brought down

by the menacing racial abuse The number of people applying for UK

university places has fallen by more than 4% on last year -

it's the first decline since fees were increased

in England five years ago. The figures from the admissions

service UCAS show a sharp decline in those applying to study nursing

and a continued fall in the number of mature students,

notably in England An elephant in Sri Lanka has

had a miraculous escape It was spotted by the Sri Lankan

Navy as it struggled to stay afloat. It seemed to be using its trunk

as a snorkel to breathe. Divers and wildlife officials

launched a 12-hour rescue operation and managed to gently tow

the elephant back to For almost 40 years,

Dippy the Diplodocus stood in the entrance hall at London's

world famous Natural History Museum, And today the newcomer

was finally unveiled - it's the skeleton of a giant blue

whale, 25 metres long, The blue whale, the biggest creature

that's ever existed on Earth. Now one of them is the main display

at the Natural History Museum. The 25-metre skeleton of this young

female fills the entire length Its skull alone weighs more

than a tonne and its lower jawbone is the single longest bone of any

animal on the planet. As visitors arrive, they're greeted

by it swooping down towards them as if they're the tiny krill that

whales feed upon. Just getting it through the narrow

doors of the building And lifting it into position

was an engineering feat, There was one heart-stopping moment

when a bolt sheared. The team succeeded in the end but it

wasn't easy for them. Going up when other people were kind

of in control of that process Sometimes we just couldn't watch

and had to walk away. The whale replaces the much-loved

Dippy the dinosaur, which after more than 100

years at the museum, The museum staff believe that Hope

will take the same place I will start with a weather watcher

picture from Wales. I can hear you groaning after that terrible pun!

Northern Ireland have had some soaking downpours this afternoon and

they are reaching into western Scotland now, spreading into the

rest of Scotland over the next couple of hours, and a few into East

Anglia. South of that it will remain dry with temperatures are little

higher than last night but still shave a few degrees of this if you

are in the countryside. Tomorrow a few showers to begin with, but a lot

of them will fade out. We will keep a good deal of plant during the day,

the afternoon looks dry and there will be sunny breaks at times. The

temperature is very close to average, that's high teens, low 20s.

As we look at the forecast for Wimbledon, yes a lot of cloud, a

little bit more breezy but comfortable conditions for players

and spectators alike. If you are going out and about tomorrow

morning, the rain will be pushing across Scotland so bear that in

mind. Here is the picture for the start of the weekend. Quite moist

air coming in from the Atlantic which means for Saturday a lot of

cloud around, and from that cloud some outbreaks of rain gradually

pushing eastwards. Not much rain in the far south of England and quite a

few midfield to things. For two of the weekend on Sunday, fresher and

brighter. A weak band of cloud on some -- and some spots of rain.

That's how the weekend is shaping up and of course you can get a forecast

for where you are and where you are going online and through the art. A

reminder of our main story this evening, the Government publishes

its plans to convert EU law into British law.