the first— that lester was one of the places, the first place are made subject to affairs _ the first place are made subject to affairs local lockdown. and later manchester. evidence has been given to the _ manchester. evidence has been given to the inquiry by the mayor, mr rotherham, that he believes manchester... it wasn't mr rotherham. andy burnham said manchester was treated appallingly. not necessarily in terms of their being _ not necessarily in terms of their being a — not necessarily in terms of their being a public health need for this intervention, but in terms of the process— intervention, but in terms of the process by— intervention, but in terms of the process by which manchester was placed _ process by which manchester was placed under restrictions, the debate — placed under restrictions, the debate about the fiscal support given— debate about the fiscal support given and the speed at which it was done _ given and the speed at which it was done in _ given and the speed at which it was done. in brief, do you accept that criticism — done. in brief, do you accept that criticism of— done. in brief, do you accept that criticism of the covid 0 local restriction process insofar as magister— restriction process insofar as magister was concerned or not? it magister was concerned or not? [it was magister was concerned or not? was broader magister was concerned or not? it was broader thanjust magister was concerned or not? it was broader than just manchester magister was concerned or not? it was broader thanjust manchester in was broader than just manchester in the way it was fought. the was broader than just manchester in the way it was fought.— the way it was fought. the reasons he advances _ the way it was fought. the reasons he advances for _ the way it was fought. the reasons he advances for the _ the way it was fought. the reasons he advances for the failures - the way it was fought. the reasons he advances for the failures in - the way it was fought. the reasons he advances for the failures in the | he advances for the failures in the system, _ he advances for the failures in the system, are — he advances for the failures in the system, are they equal application of the _ system, are they equal application of the other places place in lockdown or restrictions? not quite equat— lockdown or restrictions? not quite equal but— lockdown or restrictions? not quite equal but broadly related. were they the fiscal— equal but broadly related. were they the fiscal debate... that equal but broadly related. were they the fiscal debate. . ._ the fiscal debate... that is michael gove giving — the fiscal debate... that is michael gove giving evidence. _ the fiscal debate... that is michael gove giving evidence. we - the fiscal debate... that is michael gove giving evidence. we will - the fiscal debate... that is michael| gove giving evidence. we will leave it for now, but you'll be able to follow developments on the bbc website. you can follow the development of the covid inquiry, but now i am taking you to coverage rescue operation under way to help rescue operation under way to help rescue 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in north india. i will take you to my colleague lucy hopkins. the aid is standing by, the medical aid to help these workers as they come out. just to remind you, the first of these 41 trapped construction workers said to be rescued in the next little while, any moment now we could see them coming out because we are getting reports from people, not official reports, birds rumours and speculation —— but rumours. that these workers will start to emerge. they broke through the last bit of debris earlier today, and they have been getting some medical checks, and the chief minister is there as well. it will take some time, so throughout the day we were told it would be maybe three240 hours it could possibly take for these workers to be released, because they had to come out one by one and they will be extracted via a pipe about three feet in diameter, 90 centimetres. that pipe has been inserted through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel, and the men will then be brought out. this has all taken quite a lot of time. they've been trapped there since the 12th of november, and the rescue was very much impeded by the fact they had to cut through metal rods and progress slowed as well. byjust how cold it is, and this is a very fragile part of the himalayas, there's lots of loose soil and materials as well, rock that has been falling, making it difficult to get them out. the reason they got stuck was there was a landslide nearby which brought down this massive mountain of debris. so we watch closely, and i can tell you we don't see it in this picture here, but our correspondent are telling us there are many people gathered, friends, family and relatives, anxiously waiting. those curious as well to watch the moment. lots of media on the ground, i'm sure these pictures are being beamed across our indian news channel because the nation has been gripped by the effort and has been following it moment by moment. samir told me the family members gathered at the turner were related. people saying they bought gifts for their relatives who were trapped inside, things like sweets, and a sense of anticipation it was finally going to happen after all these days of waiting. in terms of how we know who the men are, it was remarkable when we saw the first pictures last week of them, bearded, looking really happy to have made contact with the outside world. authorities have been managing to get supplies to the men of food and water. crucially, oxygen at times. there was a separate narrow pipe be inserted into the tunnel where they supplied all of that to the men. and also communications, they could speak to them, and some of the men were able to talk to family members as well. the expectation is despite the ordeal they been through, we hear that they are well. to remind you, our correspondent that has been speaking to a man, a worker responsible for getting food to the men inside the tunnel, and he told some era the first man has been rescued and the rest are following. as we continue to look at these live pictures, i can tell you there's been of questions about safety in these tunnels as well, and the national highways authority has said it will conduct a safety audit of more than two dozen tunnels to ensure safety and adherence to the highest quality standards during construction has taken place. 29 tunnels under construction will be inspected. 12 tunnels, six in kashmir and the rest in other states. they've got experts from the delhi metro rail corporation, who will conduct this inspection and submit a report this week, given what has happened this week. it had implications on building projects elsewhere. 0ther tunnels will be inspected to make sure they are safe. in terms of the crowd gathered there, we were told is that family members have come across india, because most of the men who work on this construction project here, they are migrant workers, so they come from all sorts of places, the north and east of the country, west bengal as well. they are in general but they leave their families behind and go and work on these massive construction site and send money back to theirfamilies, construction site and send money back to their families, who often in small villages. quite a few family members have travelled to the tunnel. they have been waiting there for days, and the expectation is this is the end of the vigil, that weight as they are hoping their loved ones will come out of the tunnel in the next few minutes or hours. ijust managed i just managed to ijust managed to find details of the projects here so we can put it into context, where it is happening and what they are trying to do. this is the highway project which had planned to widen existing highways, up planned to widen existing highways, up in the himalayas, two double lane shoulder once, 16 bypasses, tunnels, 15 flyovers and hundreds more bridges, so amass a project under way. and the himalayas being the world's youngest mountain range, home to the highest peaks in the world means some of this region is quite sensitive to things like landslides, debris falling, which is what happened with all the activity. we saw a landslide nearby this tunnel coming down and bringing a mountain of debris with that, and thatis mountain of debris with that, and that is what trapped the men inside. you are seeing dozens of ambulances, flashing lights, people gathered. this is the mouth of the tunnel with those ambulances there. the military are on the ground as well, because we've seen air force helicopters deployed to possibly evacuate these workers who might need urgent medical care. so lots of activity, certainly lots of support for the workers when they come out. a real sense that at any moment this could happen. just looking for some further updates, nothing since samira told us that a worker responsible for getting food to the men inside a tunnel told her the first man has been rescued, and the rest are due to follow. we are continuing to see the ongoing activity at the site. as we get these reports that the first man has been rescued from the tunnel, we watch closely these live pictures see any developments, the first site everyone is waiting for, for one of the workers coming out, our team on the live page following this online closely. if you are watching us, do keep up—to—date on the website. if we scroll through you can see the live page is keeping across all of the developments to. here are the live pictures as you can see, with reports from people on the ground saying the very first man has been rescued from the tunnel, and we understand the rest are following. some sense that maybe some pictures will be released, of that first worker who has been rescued. as soon as we get it, we will bring it to you. you can see the ambulances lined up. we've seen stretchers as well. we believe it is all imminent now, and the national disaster response force and the state disaster fund in charge of this operation are telling us it is imminent. ithink this operation are telling us it is imminent. i thinkjust some clarification, we've been reporting on it through the day, this is coming from samira, who is at the scene for us. she hasjoined us over the past few hours. she was saying when rescuers announced earlier they had an initial breakthrough, they had an initial breakthrough, they had not actually reach the men at that point, they had breached the debris to hear the construction workers. i think that sense of anticipation we had a few hours ago it would happen, that's the reason why. theyjust managed to get through the debris, they could hear the men, but they weren't quite there yet. to remind you what we know about what the men have been through, they had quite a lot of room to move around in the tunnel and they been getting food, water, light, oxygen and medicine through a pipe. there's