Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Six 20200311

It needed addressing because it was a big worry for us, especially in terms of sickbay. Sick pay. And all that on the day of an emergency cut in Interest Rates to the lowest in history. Also on tonights programme. Justice delayed, butjustice done relief for the women who took on hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. He gets 23 years in jail. As the coronavirus is declared a global pandemic, doctors in italy tell us about the desperate choices they re making and the mass casualties theyre expecting. And coming up on sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, as sport deals with coronavirus cancellations, we head to anfield. Liverpools Champions League tie goes ahead, and they have to win it. Good evening, welcome to the bbc news at six. The chancellor rishi sunak called it a budget a for new era, delivered in challenging times. He was referring, of course, to the coronavirus outbreak and there were a raft of measures designed to help both the nhs, business and its workers get through the emergency. Hes set aside £12 billion to tackle the disease and its effect on our lives and the economy there are changes to sick pay rules and access to benefits for the self employed. He said the nhs would get whatever it needs, whatever it costs. This is the first budget since britain left the eu, and the chancellor outlined a five year public spending boost for infrastructure on a scale not seen for nearly 30 years. Hundreds of billions will be spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing. The budget followed an emergency cut in Interest Rates this morning. The bank of england earlier today, cut from 0. 75 down to 0. 25 , taking borrowing costs back down to the lowest level in history. Tonight we will look at the where the money is coming from and how its going to be spent. But first lets join our Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg on the first budget of the johnson government. This is a very significant day. The first budget since we left the eu, the first budget since the general election that changed the landscape. With the advance of coronavirus, its not the budget anyone in government would have imagined or predicted a few short weeks ago. It is not the budget any conservative would have expected, a few short yea rs would have expected, a few short years ago, because barely one month into thejob, the years ago, because barely one month into the job, the chancellor rishi sunak promised to spend and borrow big, and what he put forward today represents a very big change for us all. It might be an emergency for our health, and could be an emergency for the economy. An economic shock that grew large and sharp. Ministers wa nt to that grew large and sharp. Ministers want to slow the spread of the virus. And limit the ill effects of how the country makes its living. The new man at number 11, clutching what felt like an emergency budget. Ajob that has what felt like an emergency budget. A job that has become what felt like an emergency budget. Ajob that has become more what felt like an emergency budget. A job that has become more daunting. Every single one of the 27 days that he has been in charge. But with a50 people with coronavirus now, even a couple in westminster. Chancellor of the exchequer. Number one on the chance of thes list was clear. We will get through this together. The british people may be worried, but they are not daunted. We will protect our country and our people. We will rise to this challenge. For a period, it is going to be tough. But i am confident that our Economic Performance will recover. To get to the other side, £12 billion to start with four Public Services and private business, spending on a scale worth listening to. First, first, whatever extra resources the nhs needs to cope with coronavirus, it will get stop whether it is millions of pounds or billions of pounds, whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our nhs. He promised cash, grants, even suspending business taxes for some small companies. If people fall ill oi small companies. If people fall ill or cannot work, we must support their finances. We will make sure that our safety net remains Strong Enough to fall back on, for businesses with fewer than 250 employees, i have decided that the cost of providing statutory sick pay to any employee off work due to coronavirus will, for up to 1a days, be refunded by the government, in full. Beyond the immediate emergency. Full. Beyond the immediate emergency. The task was also to keep the promises of the tory ma nifesto, keep the promises of the tory manifesto, to build, to restore public bricks and mortar around the country. Huge spending on roads, railand country. Huge spending on roads, rail and housing. We need to build the infrastructure that will lay the foundations for a new century of prosperity. We need to grab the opportunity to upgrade, to improve, to enhance, to level up. That starts today with the next part of our plan, as we get britain building. Record splash paid for by running up Huge National overdraft. A government that gets things done. Creating jobs. Government that gets things done. Creating jobs. Impossible to imagine tories achieving a budget like this a few years ago. A peoples budget from a peoples government, and i commend it to the house. Cheering new chancellor fixing his cheering new chancellorfixing his place alongside the Prime Minister. A new era, too. Would there be any response from labour . The chancellor shows some, a lot of brass neck, when he burst that measures to deal coronavirus are only possible because of his partys management of the economy. This is a budget which is an admission of failure, an admission that austerity has been a failed experiment. It didnt solve oui failed experiment. It didnt solve our Economic Economic problems but made them worse, held back our recovery and failed, even in its own terms. Opposition reminders that the tories have been in charge for nearly a decade. This tory government has failed to level off or anyone anywhere, and they cannot be allowed to hide from these facts, just as they cannot be allowed to hide from their legacy. And a note of caution from a familiar face. Management of the public finances is one of the esps of the conservative party. We owe it to them to only ta ke party. We owe it to them to only take as much as we need and to spend it wisely. But conventional tory wisdom shifted here, today. Big spending and big borrowing, now the direction but the government may be forced to change much further, to cope with a virus, well beyond its control. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news. So, the chancellor dubbed todays budget as the biggest spending boost to the economy in a generation. But the money hundreds of billions in all has to come from somewhere and that might mean much higher borrowing. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity explains. Todays budget is a financial giveaway from the government to the rest of the economy, on a scale unseen since 1992. £30 billion in higher spending and tax changes this year, nearly a third of it anticipated in novembers spending review. Over the next five years, an extra £175 billion, and an emergency Interest Rate cut of 0. 5 . All to tackle an economic shock that policymakers fear could be large and sharp, and stop it turning into something worse. There is no reason for this shock to turn into the experience of 2008, a virtual lost decade in a number of economies, if we handle it well. Because the effects of the coronavirus keeping people away from work and disrupting supplies will be temporary, so are many of the emergency measures, such as suspending Business Rates for struggling retailers and hotel owners. But others are more permanent, such as Cutting National Insurance for lowest paid. As previous conservative chancellors kept saying, there is no magic money tree. Rishi sunak is now proposing to spend way more than his income, so he has to borrow. These bars show you how much the government was expected to borrowjust three months ago, but then look at these bars. They show what hed now have to borrow, and thats before the coronavirus measures. Then take a look at this one. This yellow line indicates that borrowing was expected to fall soon. The red line shows that it is expected to go much higher, before later falling back. Again, thats before taking into account the coronavirus measures. The official independent forecaster says all the extra government borrowing and spending will stimulate the economy, boosting productivity and growth, at least in the near future. When the government is pumping more spending power into the economy, you would expect activity to pick up. But thats only likely to be a temporary effect. Over the medium term, we think that policy measures announced in this budget, if anything, would mean that Economic Activity would be slightly weaker, but there would be a boost in the short term. Whats implicit in the budget is the view that its fine to borrow to invest or to tackle an emergency, even if it means a much bigger budget deficit in the short term. A point made many times by economists on the left is now accepted by a conservative chancellor. Andy verity, bbc news. 0ur economics editor faisal islam is here. What does the budget and the Interest Rate cut tell us about this administration was my thinking on coronavirus . We have both the treasury and the bank of england firing their big guns because of coronavirus. The bank of england is cutting Interest Rates to a record, and tweaking the plumbing of the Banking System to get the banks to carry on lending, even if companies do not have, their business. Their staff have to go and self isolate, keep that going, because they assume that it will be temporary, and the idea is to stop a temporary shock leaving permanent economic scars. Theres lots of uncertainty around how long the Health Emergency will last, and economic consequences. Lots of spending. Is anything going to go back if we needed later in the year . The deficits are going down to zero, permanently at to the future. That is not fixing the roof while the sun is shining, but when you set up the sun is shining, but when you set up against the possibility that the Coronavirus Crisis could last longer, that talks fall apart any post brexit trade talks, there are risks around the corner, and the level of the deficit might not help with those risks. The assumption, the hope, is that the Interest Rates that governments pay stay at these historically low levels for a long time indeed. They will need that to be the case. Thank you very much. Lets take a look at some of todays other budget announcements. The chancellor announced £120 millions of emergency funding for places affected by this winters flooding, plus £200 million for longer term measures. Total investment in flood defences will double to £52 billion over the next six years. A new £1 billion fund is being pledged to remove unsafe combustible cladding from all public and private housing blocks higher than 18 metres. The moves been welcomed by the Group Representing victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. And further education colleges will get an extra £1. 5 billion over five years to be invested in refurbishment. £1. 8 billion. So there were a number of measures announced today to help businesses deal with the economic consequences of the coronavirus. Alex forsyth has been getting some reaction from Business Owners in and around wolverhampton. It might look like business as usual. And behind the scenes, serious worry at this engineering firm. With just 15 staff, if sickness spreads, it could stop production. So, there was a close eye on todays budget, to see what might help them through. For manager geoff, loans and help with sick pay is welcome. But this firm wont benefit from a cut in Business Rates. Quite disappointed in that. You know, the manufacturing side of things, no business rate relief for us. I think it would be a relatively simple thing to put in, fairly quickly, that would help a lot, actually. 0verall, were you reassured . No. There seem to be a very limited amount specifically for manufacturing. Nearby, this tearoom does stand to benefit. And here, the chancellors measures were welcome news, as theyve already seen a drop in trade. I think its fantastic that hes addressed this. It definitely needed addressing. Business rates relief is very helpful. But even with support, manager katie is worried about the long term for businesses like hers. A0 down on the last two days. Thats a big drop in takings. When you lose the high street, you lose your local places where you can go and have a cup of tea. Then you lose your community. Wolverhampton is the kind of place the government has promised investment and attention an area where two out of three local constituencies turned from labour to the tories last year. This budget was meant to focus on election promises, and there was talk of money, spending on road, rail, housing and broadband in places like this. At the chancellor was forced to co nfro nt the economic threat of coronavirus. And, for many, that is the crucial test for this government. Hello, lighthouse, can i help you . For this independent cinema and arts venue, the response is vital. As a charity, theyve struggled with funding and cant afford visitors to stay away. They are hoping they can apply for loans and support with sick pay announced today. They need cash flow. Support has to come through very quickly. It cantjust be, oh, well, lets see how it goes and we will see if you are eligible and we can support you down the line. We need action now. What are your biggest worries about what might happen in the next weeks and months . My biggest worry is that it will be a terminal situation for organisations like us. For now, the show goes on and the hope there will be enough continued support to keep it that way. Alex forsyth, bbc news, wolverhampton. The cost of a pint of beer, and prices at the petrol pump, are always keenly watched on budget day. How have they been affected . Well fuel dutys been frozen for another year, the rate remains at 58p a litre for petrol and diesel. £2. 5 billion has also been freed up to fix potholes, and resurface roads, over the next five years. Therell be no hike on duty to alcoholic drinks , with tax rises on beer and spirits scrapped. But smoking is about to get more expensive, with 27p added to a packet of 20 cigarettes, and the cost of a pack of hand rolling tobacco up by 67p. And vat on digital publications, including newspapers, books and academicjournals are to be scrapped from december. Authors and writers have welcomed the announcement. You can find out how the budget will affect you with our budget calculator. Its on our website bbc. Co. Uk budget and on the bbc news app. The World Health Organization has declared that the coronavirus outbreak is a pandemic spreading person to person globally. But it says the new definition did nothing to change its approach. Another 83 people in the uk have been diagnosed, the biggest daily increase so far. The Health Minister Nadine Dorries is one of them. Shes now staying at home after testing positive for the illness last night. There are now a56 people confirmed to have the virus here in the uk. Thats out of the more than 27,000 people who have been tested. The government has plans to increase the number of people being tested from 1,500 a day to 10,000. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has been to visit one of the centres processing the samples in central london. Coronavirus testing is already under way at this laboratory, run by North West London pathology services, part of a major expansion of testing in hospital labs to help cope with an expected rise in the caseload. There was one more added to the number, with news the Health Minister Nadine Dorries had tested positive, the first mp to contract the virus. She says shes self isolated at home. Its not clear when Nadine Dorries was infected. She was at a downing street reception, hosted by the Prime Minister, on thursday evening. On friday, she began feeling unwell, but continued meeting constituents, including a surgery at this local club. Over the weekend, she had no public events. She tested positive for the virus on tuesday. At the club in her mid bedfordshire constituency, theyve carried out a deep clean of the building. I think they are shocked that Something Like that has come with it, especially from the health part of the government. But i think people generally seem to accept that its something that we have to live with now, deal with. There will be a significant increase in testing capacity, using hospital labs like this. Public Health Officials say the tests are not for anyone who might feel theyre ill, theyre specifically targeted at those seen to be most at risk, and only after decisions made by nhs 111 or doctors. So, how does Contact Tracing work . If a person tests positive for the virus, public Health Officials identify their close contacts in recent days. Theyre looking for people who spent at least 15 minutes at a distance of less than two metres. Then they decide who is low risk and who is high risk, depending partly on age and underlying health. The low risk individuals take no action, while those at high risk self isolate for 1a days. Its often family members, because obviously youre living very closely together. So family members will be contact traced. In different situations it will be people that youve been very close to, that you may be had a close conversation with, that is when you are most likely to have been infected. Tonight, the first premiership football match has been called off because of the virus. Manchester city versus arsenal. Some of the arsenal players had met another clubs owner, who later tested positive. Hugh pym, bbc news. In italy europes worst affected country Prime Minister Gisueppe Conte has ramped up spending to help the economy cope with the impact of coronavirus. He also warned that the already tough restrictions on movement might be tightened further. 12500 people in italy now have the virus and the death toll has jumped by nearly 200 in the last day to 827. Mark lowen reports. Connecting the epicentres. A doctor in wuhan and another in europes equivalent, northern italy. Colleagues in crisis. Sharing the know how. We reached that italian doctor on the right in his hospital. The first to diagnose coronavirus here. It hit like a bomb that has kept on exploding. The first few hours, we received ten, 50, 60 seven c, until 200 patients in our Emergency Department and we had some hours where the oxygen supplies sockets were insufficient to give oxygen to all the patients. So we were in a sort of let me say war scenario. But, in his town, it may have peaked. With no cases there, in the past day, it could be a sign of containment working. I think that what we did in this area has demonstrated that we are on the right pathway. So i am quite optimistic, i am quite confident that this could be the right way to go. But the rest of italy is days behind, and the virus is still surging. Rome is quiet. Restrictions on Movement Mean many are staying at home, and gatherings are banned. For now, it seems most are respecting the rules. We can see here how the measures are affecting daily life. Pharmacies are only allowing customers in one at a time. At the next door cafes, tables be one metre apart. They will close at 6pm. If you come over here, you can see a childrens playground over there is closed, as are schools, universities, cinemas, theatres and so many other venues. Its still scheduled. Several airlines have stopped flights in or out, a concern for brenda and Andrew Samuels who want to travel to manchester tomorrow. The hotel here is shutting on friday for lack of customers. I am not worried about the disease, we are taking all precautions that we can, but we are worried about going home. Whether our flight will still get at home. Police have a new target, traffickers of hand gel and facemasks, cracking a ring that tried to make a huge profit, like prized drugs, in these dystopian times. Mark lowen, bbc news, rome. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh is with me now. What has changed, why is the who calling it a pandemic . The who, simply acknowledging the obvious, that we have a global outbreak of a new disease. In the past two weeks, george, the number of cases of coronavirus outside of china have risen 13 fold, and the number of countries affected has tripled. At the end of january, countries affected has tripled. At the end ofjanuary, the countries affected has tripled. At the end of january, the who countries affected has tripled. At the end ofjanuary, the who declared coronavirus a global Health Emergency, the highest level of threat. So calling it a pandemic changes nothing. It has said that it is concerned about the very word pandemic, that it might cause unreasonable fear or an acceptance that the fight is over. It says it is not over, china has shown what can be done to slow the outbreak. Now, we are not going to see those levels of restrictions we have seen in italy or china here. But in the next few days we could see people with respiratory, flu like symptoms asked to stay at home. The vulnerable may be asked to avoid crowds. But introduce restrictions too soon and they may have to last for months. Too late and you dont slow the academic. Its a very fine judgment. Thank you very much. The disgraced hollywood Film Producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison, for rape and Sexual Assault. Weinstein who was long considered one of hollywoods most powerfulfigures was found guilty in a trial in new york last month. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant is in new york. There were gasps in court as the sentence was delivered. 23 years, for a 67 year old convicted rapist. Most analysts expected it to be 1015 most analysts expected it to be 10 15 years. Ahead of his sentencing, Harvey Weinstein delivered a rambling statement from his wheelchair, some of which addressed his female victims. We may have different truths, he said, but i have remorse for all of you. But then he added, and for all of the men going through this crisis. It was the voices of the women that mattered today. The victims described how he had ruined their lives. The victims who left court with joy and relief on their faces, knowing that he will spend so much time behind bars, possibly the rest of his life. This really is a milestone moment. It says to powerful men, you can beat successfully prosecuted for preying on women. It says to the victims of sexual violence, your voices will be heard, you have an ally in the criminal justice system. Heard, you have an ally in the criminaljustice system. Thank you very much. A miscarriage ofjustice may have occurred in the conviction of the so called lockerbie bomber, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has said. The high court in edinburgh has been asked to look again at the conviction of Abdelbaset Al megrahi for the lockerbie bombing. The libyan was found guilty in 2001 of the terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 270 people in 1988. He died in 2012 but it could pave the way for a posthumous appeal. A senior Scottish Government official has told the trial of the former first minister alex salmond that he kissed her on the mouth and touched her bottom. The woman, known as woman a, said she was employed by the snp at the time, and was humiliated by mr salmonds behaviour. He denies all the charges against him. Heres our scotland editor, sarah smith. Alex salmond is facing accusations of Sexual Assault from ten women. He heard three of them give evidence today. One of the women told the court she was groped by mr salmond on several occasions, whilst he was campaigning in glasgow, in 2008. She claimed he also repeatedly kissed her on the lips. It was very sloppy and unpleasant, she said. The prosecutor asked, why didnt you just say, first minister, dont do this. The woman replied, i liked myjob, i didnt know him very well and he was the most powerful man in the country. I didnt know what would happen if i said no, or get off. I didnt think of complaining because i didnt know how. Who do you complain to about the first minister . Another woman, an snp politician, described a car journey, during which she says mr salmond had his hand on her leg. She said she thought it was entirely inappropriate and wrong, but she didnt complain because, she says, its hard to explain how much he meant to our party and anyway, who on earth was she going to complain to, and what on earth were they going to do about it . The former first minister denies all 1a charges of Sexual Assault. The case will continue tomorrow. Sarah smith, bbc news, edinburgh. Two russian pranksters claim theyve managed to speak to prince harry in hoax calls. They pretended to be the Climate Change activist Greta Thunberg and her father. The youtubers, known as vovan and lexus, say they managed to make two calls to the prince in canada. Buckingham palace has declined to comment on the claim. Back to the main story, and it was always going to be a pretty extraordinary budget, having to deal with the unexpected challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak. Lets get some final thoughts from our Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg. Laura, what does this budget tell us about this government . You might say that today was the whatever it takes budget. Whatever it takes to try to stop the coronavirus turning into a terrible economic event, trying to blow up an airbag before there is a crash. Perhaps politically whatever it takes to try to keep the promises that the tories made to millions of voters around the country, particularly in those parts of the country that have often been held by labour, by the labour party. As ever in politics, it is so important to say that promises are much harder to keep than they are to deliver at the dispatch box. There is a huge amount of uncertainty around the numbers, the way the sums added up today. And also, a lot of people will be looking at this today and saying it is real chutzpah from the conservatives, who, for years, have been saying publicly that the restricting of spending and borrowing was the right thing to do, today they have delivered a budget very different in tone, a budget that perhaps might have been more likely to come from a labour chancellor, rather than any recent conservative chancellors at all. Just when any of us as individuals ta ke just when any of us as individuals take out a huge new loan or run up an overdraft, you cannot borrow without taking no risk at all with the economy. There may be conservatives who are looking at what happened today arent thinking, wondering tonight whether it is really wise. But it certainly is the start of a new era, a huge moment for a new government and an assured performance from somebody who is almost a brand new chancellor. Laura, thank you very much. Time for a look at the weather. Heres helen willetts. Big contrasts in our weather today. We had a mild 15 between the showers today in the south, only a degrees in the north. That cold air is heading the way of the south as well. So, a distinctly chilly field tomorrow. Lots of showers to come. So, that means with the cold air digging infrom so, that means with the cold air digging in from the north, as we approach with a north westerly, it does me no showers will turn progressively to snow at lower levels as well through the night. We will find a showers easing a little in southern areas. But with a frost as well as the snow in the north overnight, it does mean that it is going to be quite icy in places, because no showers just keep coming on that brisk wind. So, concerns if you are travelling, notjust through tonight but tomorrow morning as well, that it could be quite treacherous with the ice and snow, particularly in the north, the snow blowing around in strong winds. The warnings are on the website. The showers will