Transcripts For BBCNEWS Newsnight 20170926

And we are on campus with the students who voted forJeremy Corbyn last time, do they see him as a protest vote or a Prime Minister . Ive always felt left wing. I was born into factories and never felt there was anyone in mainstream politics that spoke to me. And then along he came and i am suddenly like, finally. Good evening. Tomorrow at noon, labours leader will stand at the podium for the final speech of conference. He will tell his audience, and he hopes, a much wider crowd, that labour is ready for government. If it sounds like the bold electioneering of a slogan. But as John Mcdonnell war games possible economic scenarios such as a run on the pound once his party takes power, this programme has learned of other preparations being made to ready labour for a snap election and for government. Out Political Editor nick watt is here. Lets start with this speech, you have gleaned a little bit of what will be said byJeremy Corbyn tomorrow. Opposition leaders need to be careful when they say they are about to go into government. Those of us can remember the former liberal leader when he said tell your constituencies to be ready when we go into government. But there will not be laughter in this hall tomorrow and indeed there will be a serious tone in downing street whenJeremy Corbyn says the labour party under his leadership has become a government in waiting and labour he will say is ready to take power and he will have a real pop at the conservatives over brexit. He will say, never has the National Interest been so ill served in such a vital issue and he will say if there was no other reason for the tories to go their self interested brexit bungling would be reason enough. You have also learned something about preparations for a government within downing street, should it get that far . Well, yes, the party has agreed Jeremy Corbyn is here to stay and secondly a general election could come much sooner than expected. Jeremy corbyn told a meeting of the National Exit of last week that could be a snap election because theresa may could lose control of her party and so the Party Machinery is facing what is described as a standing instruction to be ready for an immediate election. They are bringing forward the selection of labour candidates, 76 labour candidates in england, 20 labour candidates in scotland and ten labour candidates in wales. The process for the manifesto is a bit more laborious but, as they showed earlier this year, they can pull out of the hat pretty quickly if they need to. So, look, i have been looking today at all of these issues so here is my report. I am looking forward to my Prime Minister being Jeremy Corbyn. You see him there, you see him there, you see him everywhere. Perish the thought that labour is embracing a personality cult butJeremy Corbyn is turning into something of an icon. Even his cat is depicted on merchandise. And this isnt about making a few bucks for party coffers. All sides genuinely believe Jeremy Corbyn could soon be walking through this famous door. Behind me is a labours Conference Hotel here in brighton. I am told that in here last fridayJeremy Corbyn told a meeting of labours Ruling National Executive Committee that they could soon be facing a snap general Election Campaign. He told his party that tory divisions over brexit means that theresa may could lose control of her party and stumble into a general election. As a party we are on an election footing, we will be out there selecting candidates in key seats we need to win and on this saturday we are going to have one of our Biggest National campaigns today taking that message of hope and a better and more fair and equal britain to the country ahead of the Tory Party Conference in manchester. An early election would throw open some of the central questions aboutJeremy Corbyn and his future. Does he really believe he can be Prime Minister or does he believe his Central Mission is to secure the leadership of the labour party for a future generation of left wingers . I have spoken to one long standing ally ofJeremy Corbyn who says he is in no doubt he will be Prime Minister within the next few years. At that point he will have achieved two historic goals, he will have put labour back into power and he will have secured number ten for the left. Once in number ten, the 68 year old would do something rare for a new incumbent, implement a Succession Plan thats been underway for some time. The labour left, who are mostly in their 60s, believe they have been weakened by what they call the missing generation. For more than a decade, their supporters struggled to be selected as labour parliamentary candidates. They joke that their group was known as the sealed tomb. Over the last few elections a broader range of candidates have been selected. And the leadership has now identified two possible successors. Rebecca long bailey and Angela Rayner. So a rapturous reception for Angela Rayner as she told her story of how the Labour Movement allowed her to make thejourney from being a single mother without qualifications to sitting in the shadow cabinet. She has been supported by her shadow cabinet colleague rebecca long bailey. These two members of the shadow cabinet lie at the heart ofJeremy Corbyns thinking. If he finds himself Prime Minister any time soon, they will be senior members of his cabinet, but also in the longer term the labour leadership believes that Angela Rayner and rebecca long bailey are the sort of people who can carry the flame whenJeremy Corbyn decides to pass on to the next generation. Rebecca long bailey is ready for a general election. What we are doing now is building on what was in the manifesto and i have to say there was a lot of work done that wasnt actually included in the manifesto, especially in terms of industrial strategy and business. We had a document the size of war and peace that we wanted placed in the manifesto but we were told we needed a snappy few paragraphs of about 500 words. That is what will help us win the next general election, notjust complaining about how bad the tories are, but showing what britain would look like under a new Labour Government. One whitehall watcher wonders whether labour would be ready for government after another snap election. I think it would be challenging if there was a snap election for a number of reasons, first of all i think there are Big Questions over whether they would have time to talk through policy priorities with the Civil Service to the extent they need to before they go into government. Also you have the shadow front bench, who perhaps, compared to previous shadow front benchers, are a little less experienced than normal. A gentle, some would say an unstoppable, momentum is powering the rise ofJeremy Corbyn. Soon, however, he may be confronted with the realities of power. Before we came on air i spoke to the unite union leader len mcclusky. If the shadow chancellor was war gaming a run on the pound, i asked, what did this tell us about labours relationship with business . Business in general can be very uncomfortable about what a Labour Government would do. The whole question of war gaming, and i am not sure that is the right terminology that should be used, but if it is a question about a government that is preparing for a whole host of different options, itjust demonstrates to me that they are on top of their game. But if youre a business and you are hearing Higher Corporation tax, nationalisation, property tax, you cannot sit there as a company boss saying, come on labour, can you . Bringing up Corporation Tax would only bring us up to levels these Multinational Companies pay in other european countries. Big business doesnt have anything to fear. All big business has two recognises they may have to pay their fair share. They have got away with it for long enough. The reality is the creation of wealth in our nation is still as high as its ever been. The distribution of that wealth is what is wrong. A Labour Government is on the side of ordinary working people and would redistribute that wealth, but it wouldnt take the wealth away from businesses. Is it just about. Tax . Amazon could pay a lot more tax but it would still be taking business away from all the small businesses, your members, that you would like to support . But thats a different argument. I cant stop the nature of large companies, you will be asking the next if i want to break up supermarkets to save the local corner shop. The reality is. Is that such an odd thing to ask . No, i would love to be more local shops but i dont have a magic wand. Lets talk about the make up of your party now. You said yesterday there is no dissent at this conference and it got a big cheer. There has been dissent in the past, hasnt there . The party seems more united than i have ever known. Ive often been in the minority in my party, of which i have been a member for 47 years, but you argue your corner. At the moment i see unity everywhere. There is a lot of talent on the backbenches, as well as the front rachel reeves, chuka umunna, advisers like peter mandelson, would they be welcome back, should Jeremy Corbyn say, you are welcome into the fold and you get jobs . There is a fantastic amount of talent currently on the front benches and the shadow cabinet. Is that a no then . No, it isnt. I dont pickjeremys team. All of us have to live with the consequences of our actions. Ive had to live with it all my life in the labour party so there are some of the Parliamentary Labour Party and some of the leading lights who resigned and were part of that kind of attempt to undermine corbyn shouldnt be surprised if there isnt suddenly desperate wish to fall over to drag them back in. But of course they have a role to play. Tom watson, your former roommate, does he have to pay the price . I am not sure why he engaged in the undermining, the others live he obviously feltjeremy was a problem and he has to work that out with jeremy. Tom is a talented guy. But you see it as undermining rather than an assertion of a different view . Well, it was at that time. You know, lets be honest with everybody. When there was a coup happening every other week, mass resignations, the votes of no confidence, those issues have to be worked through and people, and lots have, the Parliamentary Labour Party in general now are massively supportive of Jeremy Corbyns leadership and things need to find their level and time is a great healer. Israel should not be treated differently to White South Africans South Africans are nazis. Should the person who said that a labourfringe meeting last night have the right to express that view . If they are members of the labour party and they have engaged in language that is considered to be anti semitic or in any other shape orform racist they should have no place in the labour party. Do you recognise labour might still have a problem with anti semitism . No, i have never recognised that. I believe it was mood music created by people trying to undermineJeremy Corbyn. Should Ken Livingstone be brought back . No, the labour party are dealing with him, i thought his comments were extraordinary and i expressed that view at the time and the labour party have dealt with him. You have noticed this, other people on the floor talked about it, there is a sense of a government in waiting, what would be your bet on the earliest for a general election . If i was a betting man, early 2019. Not before then . I dont think so, we have only got 12 months for this deal, october of next year we have got to have cut a deal on brexit and i dont know how the government are going to do it. I think it will unravel in the house of commons. I think she will resign and i think, and i hope we will have another general election so we can give britain a Labour Government that they desperately need. Len mcclusky, many thanks. Joining me now, shami chakrabarty, shadow attorney general. Nice of you to come in. We learned yesterday that labour has been war gaming these scenarios, whatever they are economic problems, a run on the pound. John mcdonnell used this phrase, he said when they come for us. What did that mean to you . What did that mean to you. I think the first thing in your question is about war gaming and senior Civil Servants stressed test flights to the economy, to the pound, terrorist attacks, all the time. You have to prepare for the worst that is what you do when youre a government in waiting and government. But he used this specific example of a run on the pound, labour warning of that and that suggests that business would be scared of the labour party. My understanding is that the war gaming is about preparing for adverse economic circumstances and to be honest the way this government, the current government is behaving around its brexit negotiations, we have to be quite nervous about what economy we will inherit. In terms of when they come for us, that isjohn in his pithy way being honest about the fact that there are some vested interests who are not going to be happy about it, about a Labour Government. If i were a press baron or tax dodger i would not be happy aboutJeremy Corbyn in government. But tax dodgers are not the people who come for you, it suggests he is thinking within the apparatus of the state itself. I have not disgusted withjohn but i was a government lawyer for years and im not worried about the apparatus of the state. Is thatjust paranoid. I do not think that is what he meant. You will have to ask him about that. But im confident that we will be a government of the rule of law, i have spoken to lawyers here in brighton and they look forward to a Labour Government that will invest in access tojustice again. There are Public Servants looking forward to a Labour Government that will invest in caring and education. Do you think anyone in the establishment is nervous about the labour party, the military for example, potentially having a pacifist in power . I would be keen on having nia griffith as defence secretary because she will invest in the military as they are crying out to do. WellJeremy Corbyn has made his feelings go about trident and the nuclear button. I think is keen to support the military but he will not take into unnecessary and illegal military intervention. It was interesting to hear Len Mccluskey earlier talking about people needing to live by their consequences. He suggests those who have fallen foul ofJeremy Corbyn on the way up should be kept outside the pen. Is that your sense of what should happen . Not at all and im not sure that is even what lennon was saying. He said people should live by their consequences. I think perhaps what he pointed to was the fact that there are some brilliant younger members of parliament, some of them came in in 2015 and they stepped up and they grew into their positions. Now some of them are really fine shadow secretary of state and you cannot but reward that. Weve seen rebecca long bailey, Angela Rayner, i have the privilege to sit around the shadow cabinet table with those brilliant young women. You think the days of chuka umunna or tom watson are gone . Not at all. You would have them back . Im not the leader. You are close to the leader and have shown yourself as a loyalist. Would you say to him this is the time to open up the big tent . The tent is growing, as youve seen at this conference, the tent is so big that is is hard to find the venue big enough for a conference. So there is no spite going on. This is one of the most positive Party Conferences i have ever been to. It is a very special energy. Tom watson made a very fine unity speech today which i congratulated him on. So it would be a better story for you know if there was some kind of secret in fighting still going on. It is easy for you to ask, are the older shadow cabinet members, welcome back him, or not really within his sights set at their welcome but there are people who are filling jobs very well the moment and you cannot expect their loyalty and their brilliance not to be rewarded. Let me just ask you to pick up something Len Mccluskey earlier. Looking at anti semitism, no one better placed in the party to look at this venue. The party today drew a line under those allegations with the new rules it implemented. Which complement my report. Add a couple of hours later Len Mccluskey says anti semitism and the staff of the time was pretty much mood music for those trying to undermine Jeremy Corbyn. With the greatest respect to len, i was the person charged with investigating this and it was not Len Mccluskey. Ive seen things that clearly he has not seen. What is wrong . I think so. I would ask him to read my report and ask everyone to read my report. I found examples of behaviour. He is the head of a big union like the unite union and he is not aware of it . There are reasons why someone like Len Mccluskey might not have experienced racism and anti semitism, an obvious reason why he would not have experienced that. I was charged with investigating this byJeremy Corbyn and the National Executive and i set up my findings, warts and all. Some people thought that i was saying there was no problem, some people thought i was saying there was a massive problem, read the report. Today im just delighted about the fact that 96 of the vote supported my rule change. So if youre seeing that the reason why it Len Mccluskey might not see that, would you agree with the understanding that labour, Jeremy Corbyn, looking at succession of or lets say after downing street, that theyre now looking at a woman to placed Jeremy Corbyn . Well, i would like to see the next leader of the labour party be a woman. It is not going to happen for some time becausejeremy is going to take us into government first and he will be Prime Ministerfor i2 or i do not know how many terms. But i think when the time comes for the next leader i personally as a feminist in the labour party would like to see a woman. And i have the privilege of sitting round the shadow cabinet table with some many qualified candidates. Thank you. The general election earlier this year saw two thirds of full time students vote forJeremy Corbyn. Were they lured by his promise of new politics . Free tuition . The hope of a resurgent remainer position from labour . And more importantly, would they do it again if there was a snap election tomorrow . Is he in other words a protest figure . Or a Prime Minister. We headed for the university of sussex to ask. We know this will come as a shock. All this fresh air, real grass, pedestrians without lanyards. But today weve slipped outside the yellow lighting of conference, just for a moment, to campus. Sussex university welcomed Jeremy Corbyn here yesterday. Its that sort of place. And here as at universities across the land, they voted for him in droves. Ive always felt left wing. I was born into thatcherism and never felt like there was anyone in mainstream politics that spoke for me. And then, you know, along he came and all of a sudden im like well, finally this is someone i can get on board with. But today i want a sense whether hed get their vote again. Was it all about tuition fees . Were they hoping hed turn remainer . Are they still behind him . No, not a corbyn fan. Originally i was sort of sceptical about whether the project could work. Obviously as a former green voter id sort of started to write off the labour party as a vehicle for genuine, progressive change. And i thought that the entire labour party would sort of rally against corbyn, as ended up happening. What won me over in the end is the way that corbyns policies started to become mainstream labour policies. And i think the way that we are seeing that now, the way that in the weeks up to the election and over the summer since, the party has i think started to unite around corbyns campaigning method. It is genuinely transforming the labour party into a really positive force. Leah is not so sure. Yes, she voted corbyn, but she admits the Political Landscape right now leaves her uninspired. For me i voted for labourjust because i agreed with their policies the most out of all of the parties. But im not super. I feel slightly disengaged with politics at the moment. I think hes a very radical figure and for me, i dont find him as a figure, a realistic option. Some of course voted tactically in their home towns. A student assumption perhaps, no one likes the tories. Obviously the tories had a much more detrimental set of policies for the majority of people, so obviously people want to get them out. But i thought. The reason i voted lib dem was because back home its a tory safe seat anyway. So theres no way that voting labour would change that. Yeah, i mean i agree with a lot of what labour says, but i was torn between lib dem and labour. And in the end labour showed the most promise out of both of the two. You know on University Campuses there is a lot of talk of the rise of corbyn. But you dont particularly feel part of that . I mean, no, i like him. But i think it does take a lot of the focus away from policies rather to the person. Because one person by themselves, i dont think can change that much. You need a whole party and a solidified party. Right, thats enough of the fresh air. Back inside the Conference Hall with you now. And in case youve started to believe what you read about our abstemious youth, yes, you saw, there was alcohol. Yes, there were fags. Yes, even mid afternoon. Im joined now by Ellie Mae Ohagan who writes for the guardian and the mail on sundays dan hodges. There was a sense of a leap forward in june forJeremy Corbyn. What do you feel you need to hear from him tomorrow that gives them the extra fillip . I do not really have many expectations of the speech, i imagine he willjust be building on what happened injune. I think most members, a save the children manifesto, which was really the turning point for labour, as a foundation from which the party will build. And i hope his speech will talk about that, about where to go next. But i very much think the fact that the manifesto itself was the foundation. So the job is done, do you feel that the conference here has contributed anything tangible apart from a kind of amassing of. . No, thejob is onlyjust beginning, it will be done whenJeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister. But what we have seen at conference, which i have been struck by, is a sense of energy that i have not seen before at other conferences. A sensitivity and a sense of excitement. I have been struck by that and for once i have enjoyed being year which is something i have never experienced before. It felt to me like the first conference where Jeremy Corbyn really became the leader of the labour party. He was really accepted into the labour party. Could you think labour has to pull towards now, is it more radical from the left or is it the Centre Ground . Where do they need to get there, then exits from . My view is the labour party must move to the Centre Ground but the state that is not the labour party. You still think that . Yes, i have been to several Party Political conferences from both sides, this is the first time ive been at a Party Conference that essentially has been a victory rally after an electoral defeat. This is the one thing that is missing. Yes there is that sense of energy and excitement and enthusiasm. But the one thing missing from this conference is any kind of analysis of why theresa may is still in government, while she and the conservative party got more votes than the labour party at the last election. And that is the missing ingredient. I think the last election demonstrated most people in political commentary have ideas about how to win elections and they were wrong. Really no one called the selection, no one expected a hung parliament. Colleagues of mine suggested that on the news and there were laughed at. And so this idea that we must return to these old modes of politics, old modes of campaigning that have been proven wrong by this election, ijust think its backwards and i think we need to look at new ways of doing things. Jeremy corbyn, his campaign in 2017 completely burst open the idea of how we do politics. And i think it is time for political commentators to engage with that and try to understand what happened. Actually no wonder standing up whether on the campuses or around the meetings and saying we need to have something less radical . Certainly i mean, honestly in politics you have to move forward. Politics is a fluid process. But the one thing im not wrong about is the fact the labour party did not win the last election. It depends on the direction of travel. It is about the direction of travel but to understand that you had to start where youre starting from. And with this conference it is being framed and the nature discussion we having now, fingers of the labour party had won the last election. They did not win. And that is a slightly inconvenient fact. But if they want to move forward and win the next general election it has understand why it did not win the last one. And there is no attempt that i have seen anywhere within the conference to understand why the Labour Party Got fewer votes at the last election with everything we know about the general Election Campaign that theresa may had run. No one is try to understand why they lost. Usually not think that labour would now win the general election . It may well do but theres not going to be a snap election in the next couple of months. That is the thing the next election is going to be to the three years away. Jeremy corbyn has told people he will be in power by december. He will not be. You are now possibly in this holding pattern. Ive been to lots of fringes over the course of this conference and met hundreds of labour party members. Everybody is serious about winning the next labour party members. Everybody is serious about winning the what the aheadlooks. Everybodyl, everybody it aheadlook this everybody it aheadlook this point rybody it aheadlook this pointig willing their time people § their time people are . This [eh have i;putin they ifputin they i can i ask you a quick question . Uber, the challenge to uber, do you use uber yourself . Not that im aware of. I havent used them, i believe. And the challenge to uber, obviously i cant comment on the legal challenge itself, but the issue is down to the company. Tfl implements the regulations, if the company isnt abiding by the regulations, it should address that. What about amazon, do you use that yourself . Sometimes, sometimes. Isnt that a bit naughty . Well, ive been campaigning on their tax campaigners well, thats right. So im quite considered about it. Isnt there a real difficulty in the 21st century . How do you say. Because in the old days, you didnt eat South African fruit. Or some people didnt. I didnt. Yes. But this, its more difficult . No, it is difficult. You know, you have moral choices to make. And sometimes its as a result of people like uber, because people have been using that because its cheap, etc. But a lot of people now are waking up to the fact that because of tfls ruling, there are issues that have to be addressed. So i think the moral pressure on any company like that is to get within the regulations themselves. Are there people in there who are a little bit hypocritical, who are denouncing uber, or amazon, and actually have their apps on their phone . Is that a possibility . Its definitely a possibility theres always hypocrites. I think so, yeah. Obviously i cant speak for everyone. But i think so, yeah. Can you say that louder . Yes, most likely youre putting me on the spot, here joining me now are paul mason and phil collins. Do you use uber . No. Out of principle . No, out of inertia and laziness and being a bit of a luddite. Was it right for labour to take on uber . I think thats one way of framing it. I think this is tfl which has come to the decision, we will see, sadiq khan has sanctioned that decision so far but we will see. In the specific instance there arelots of things uber needs to address and the ceo has apologised for some of the practices. I dont think its quite as stark as labour taking on uber. This starts with uber, but the bigger question i guess is does it want to be on the side of the consumers or the producers, does it want to back disruptive business, longer term innovation or the consumer . Its a good question but i dont think it is one posed by uber, because the reason we have transport regulators is because systems in cities are public systems. The transport regulator in london has said they are not up to scratch and i would argue they are protecting the consumer. But there is an obvious problem. The campaign has been waged by a labour affiliated trade union, the gmb. It wants, as i want, the maximum amount of stable contract employment and we think that is good for the economy and precarious work where it is not only self employed but the drivers have to buy their own car is a regressive. Lets widen it up, it is notjust uber, it is amazon and all these things. Phil, is it right that as a labour supporter, you have to be putting the worker burst . I think you have hit on something. You go back to the origins of the labour party and it begins as the organised representatives of the trade union bill movement and it is the placing of working men and women into parliament. Without doubt the labour party begins as the party of the producers and it has to be conscious that is how it is seen. Part of what youre trying to do in government is represent everybody and the labour party is always suspected of being the party of the producers. So it needs to be careful in instances like this. I agree with paul, that this is more complex because when you had companies that employ people in the usual way then it was easier to regulate. Now we have these very disembodied entities which even claim they are not quite companies, so we are trying to do regulation in an entirely new environment. Amazon, google, do you use those, do you feel you can be a staunch Jeremy Corbyn supporter and use amazon . Absolutely. Yes . Yes, but i do not use uber because i think its Business Model is anti social. Why i am asking about amazon is that represent a company that you could argue is eating up all other business. It is, so we need competition law to force it to not unfairly monopolise, but more than that, i do not want to dwell on uber, lets talk in the generic sense. Companies are now in business to try to monopolise the future. The future . Yes, at some point, the future market, the future. At some point, londons transport system will be integrated and controlled by one computer. Either that transport system will be essentially a centralised free system or it will be individual vehicles negotiating a price for their place in the queue. Only one of them is compatible with the uber Business Model and the 62 billion which is no bet on that Business Model. This sounds like a nationalisation of the whole thing. Its implicit in the technology. Either one mind runs it or many do. There is a tendency to monopoly but labour is there to impose our a competitive structure on a marketplace and we will be able to do that in this environment, that is what regulators do. Markets are nothing more than the sum of the rules and regulations we prescribed to make them work and we are trying to do that now in a way that we have companies with a capacity to do things we have never had before. If you are embracing the true heart of corbynism, would you be saying no airbnb . I would do that, yeah. And what else would you ban . Its not so much banning. It is, though, isnt it . If you are prepared to obey the rules of this city you operate like any other tourist hotel. And would you put social media, google or youtube. Google has its market position because it was a brilliant, good Search Engine to start with. Thats what its market capitalisation is based on. Uber, airbnb are based on a rent seeking Business Model which has no innovative technology. What they do is they provide a service to the consumer at a lower price than they are currently gaining. Lets not pretend the london taxi market is not heavily regulated and perfect as it is. We will end there, thank you both very much. Thats it for tonight. Well be back tomorrow. We leave you by marking the death of labour campaigner liz dawn, who apparently appeared in a well known tv show on itv. Importantly, she also appeared on newsnight back in 2004, during the hartlepool by election, putting upstart reporter Michael Crick in his proper place. Goodnight. Mr wright, an accountant and councillor, has been backed here by the actress liz dawn. Vera duckworth on coronation street. Though she seemed a tad out of touch on her politics. So do you think mr wright will be an improvement on the previous mp . Which mp . Hes trying to tie me up in knots, him. Well, mr wrights local where is the previous one wasnt. Oh, i dont know. I dont know about hartlepool do i . So whats mr mandelson doing now . I dont know. Should i know . No, hes in brussels. Oh, i see, right. Yeah. And whats he doing there . 0h, go away laughter youre a boring prat. Laughter good evening. If you arejust good evening. If you are just off the bed wondering whats in store tomorrow, a change is coming. It will take most of the day before it arrives for many of us but there is wet and windy weather on its way. Ahead of that we could have patchy fog forming across north east england in particular, but it will bea dry england in particular, but it will be a dry and sunny day and still pleasa ntly warm be a dry and sunny day and still pleasantly warm if you keep the sunshine. Cloud thickening and the rain arrives in Northern Ireland by lunchtime and into western fringes as well. I suspect if you get some sunshine you will see 20 degrees or as high as 22 in the south east corner. The cloud and rain gathers in south east corner and wales but the heaviest rain is likely to be in Northern Ireland by the middle of the afternoon. Some of that is quite persistent. The western scotland perhaps clouding over a little bit. Generally speaking cloud will remain well broken in scotland. Not a bad day, 14 17 is the high. The receiving end overnight the rain is going to sweep east. So for all of us going to sweep east. So for all of us there will be as a spell of rain. It will perhaps clear all bar is the fringes by dawn on thursday, with clear skies we could see some more fog forming, and specially favoured spots around wales and south west england. So murky start but generally speaking thursday is another promising day. The rain will ease away, maybe just lingering another promising day. The rain will ease away, maybejust lingering in the south east. Elsewhere there will be sunshine coming through and temperatures not bad. Perhaps not as warm as the last few days but 15 20 not out of the question. On thursday we start to see another change. One of the reasons for this change is we have the cold air coming out of canada, mixing with the very warm air through the caribbean at the moment. What that sterling is just reinvigorating the fast jet stream over the next few days. That will dry in the low pressure from the atlantic. So tightly packed isobars around that low as we go into friday. Windy, gales on exposed coasts perhaps and a spell of wet weather again moving west to east. Behind it, 14 weather again moving west to east. Behind it, 14 19 weather again moving west to east. Behind it, 14 19 degrees, with some brightness coming through. This theme continues into the weekend. Sunshine and showers for saturday, but it looks like it will turn wet and windy again on saturday. Good night. Welcome to bbc news, live in singapore. The headlines the king of saudi arabia issues an order allowing women to drive for the first time. This is a historic day for saudi society, for men and women, and we can now say, at last. More than 75,000 people have now been evacuated from their homes on the slopes of a volcano in bali, amid fears of an imminent eruption. Im Babita Sharma in london. Also in the programme prosecuted for being gay. We meet the south korean solider who fell victim to an old law which bans homosexual activity in the nations army