picture, irma offshore from the ricoh and the dominican republic. torrential rain. there is an island here and i think it could be hit by hurricane irma and it could make la ndfall hurricane irma and it could make landfall here as we get on towards midnight. the damage from the storm is not done. it is notjust the 220 mile an hour gusts of wind, but it is the massive storm surge. up to 20 foot high in places, that will cause further catastrophic damage over the coming days. it is then heading to florida later this weekend. satellite picture in the uk, showing quite a bit of cloud across the north—west. slippery slide to something rather more unsettled the next few days. a band of rain sinking south into northern england from scotland and northern ireland. turning down with patchy rain in wales and the south—west. the odd showerfor wales and the south—west. the odd shower for the southeast and east anglia. feeling cool in the winds. 0vernight tonight, this band of rain sinking south. heavy rain for a time in northern england, pushing across wales, the midlands, reaching southern counties of england by the end of the night, when strengthening. plenty of showers working into the north and west of the country. the forecast for friday, a day of sunshine and showers for many, not much in the way of sunshine perhaps between the showers, coming in thick and fast on the brisk winds. it will feel cooler times in the northwest. a band of rain in the south accompanied by a fairly strong winds and potentially some rumbles of thunder. temperatures easing back. looking to the weekend, low pressure still in charge, staying unsettled. showers continuing to be widespread, often quite cloudy and it will turn increasingly windy as we get towards the latter part of sunday, even with the latter part of sunday, even with the risk of burials. i will keep you up—to—date with the latest on hurricane irma, on the bbc weather website or on twitter. back to you. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. hurricane irma has ploughed a devastating path through the caribbean, leaving islands destroyed and at least ten people killed. that's all from the bbc news at one, so it's goodbye from me. 0n bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. have a good afternoon. there have been long—standing, real concerns about statutory instruments for many years, right across these benches. 0n. england's cricketers have made a good start to the third and decisive test against west indies — they've restricted the tourists to 35 for two at lunch. 0ur correspondentjo wilson is at lord's — jo, james anderson is creeping towards a significant milestone — how's he doing? is turned into a classicjames anderson kind of day. one thing about a test match in england if it's in september, you probably moans it won't be sunny for long. within minutes the cloud came over and we have some drizzle and james anderson loves bowling in these conditions. we saw wickets 498 and 499, both caught from behind. having all ready seen one chance go down, there was burstow taking that one. desperately trying to leave the ball but couldn't. a classicjames anderson wicket. those were the two to fall in the morning session. we lost about half an hour due to rain but anderson will be out to bowl again. and i think he will be as hungry as ever to get that ball in his hand. if every test match was played in these conditions i think you could easily play until he was 40. it's a difficult one to call, isn't it, after the way the first two tests went? with the floodlights on here it reminded me of the first test in edgbaston, i9 wickets falling in one day, the west indies overwhelmed. but then you have to bear in mind that brilliant fightback in the second test. with the west indies now back to resume 35—2 don't think we can write them off in the way that we might have done just a few weeks ago. remember the centuries of the last test matches. we have to credit west indies with some real fighting spirit because they have shown that for the next couple of hours of play with anderson wanting that 500th wicket with the floodlights on, it is not warm, it will be a real test for them. we look forward to seeing how that pans out. thank you forjoining us. alexis sanchez will soon be back to his best with arsenal, according to manager arsene wenger. sanchez came close to joining manchester city on transfer deadline day but wenger believes his focus is now firmly on arsenal and he'll overcome a shaky start to the season with club and country. i have no doubt about his mind and mentality. people question, i think he needs to come back to fitness, what he was out at liverpool, it was his first game. he suffered a negative experience but he is strong mentally and hopefully he will be back very quickly to his best. manu tuilagi now has no chance of playing for england in the autumn internationals — he's injured and likely to be out for around 12 weeks. 0ur rugby reporter chris jones is in london — chris, tell us more. it was only a couple of days ago that the england head coach said he would be prepared to forgive the latest bout of ill discipline which sent the player home from training camp last month. but his injury curse has struck again. he has been plagued by injuries to the best part of three orfour plagued by injuries to the best part of three or four years now. he plagued by injuries to the best part of three orfour years now. he had only just of three orfour years now. he had onlyjust come back from a long—standing knee problem and his first competitive game since january he strained his knee playing for leicester against bath on sunday. he needs surgery. he will be out for a round about 12 weeks. it rolls out of england's autumn internationals. he may not have been involved for a variety of reasons. but the bigger question is will we ever see this one is destructive centre back to a sustained period of form and fitness? a real blow for him. and that question lingers on. birmingham has won the race to become the english candidate to host the 2022 commonwealth games. they were in competition with liverpool but the department for digital, culture, media and sport has backed the west midlands city. the government must now decide whether to put forward a formal bid for the games. that's all sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport and i'll have more in the next hour. dozens of tory mps have signed a letter, seen by the bbc, warning the government not to keep the ‘country in the eu by stealth'. signatures are being gathered for the letter, designed to send a message to ministers not to soften the government's plans to leave the single market or the customs union, even during a transition period. it comes as mps have begun debating the european union withdrawal bill, transferring thousands of eu laws and regulations into british legislation. labour says it will oppose the bill in a vote next week. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminste. and hear mps and hearmps are and hear mps are grappling with the sheer complexity of transferring over years and years of eu laws and directives, bringing them into uk law. there won't be a vote today, there will be a debate today, another debate on monday, and then a vote. but as you say labour say they will vote against all of this. the brexit secretary today was outlining why this bill was needed and when he talks about it you can tell he is saying this is absolutely necessary if we are going to have this smooth brexit. if we are going to have a functioning legal system the day after we leave the european union. this is how he explained it to mps. when i introduced the european union notification withdraw bell earlier this year i said it was just the beginning, the beginning of a process to ensure that the decision made by the people is honoured. and today we begin the next step in a historic process of honouring that decision. but simply, this bill is an essential step. whilst it does not take it out of the eu, that is a matter for the article 50 process, it does ensure that on the day we leave businesses know where they stand, workers' rights are upheld, and consumers remain protected. this bill is vital to ensuring that as we leave we do so in an orderly manner. so this is all about everything being smooth and orderly according to him. but there is a parliamentary i’ow to him. but there is a parliamentary row about it. that is because within this bill there are powers for ministers to make changes to laws without necessarily having a debate oi’ without necessarily having a debate ora without necessarily having a debate or a vote without necessarily having a debate ora vote in without necessarily having a debate or a vote in parliament. this does happen quite often in this place, but on this occasion labour particularly and some conservatives, the liberal democrats, the snp, are very concerned that it is essentially a power grab by ministers, they say they will not be enough checks and balances and there is nothing to stop them changing laws without getting mps' approval. labour will vote against all of this and keir starmer explained why. the secretary of state is keen to portray this bill as a technical exercise, converting eu law into our law without raising any serious constitutional issues about the role of parliament. nothing could be further from the truth. this all comes of course as negotiations continue between the british government and the european union on exactly what the terms of the withdrawal will be, whether there will be a transitional phase four example. and what we have heard now, the bbc has seen a letter which has been drafted by some conservative mps, it was due to be sent to a sunday newspaper, and in it they are saying that continued membership of the single market, even as part of a transitional arrangement, would quite simply mean eu membership by another name. and we cannot allow our country to be keptin we cannot allow our country to be kept in the eu by stealth, they say. it goes on to say there must be a clearly defined timetable for this country's departure from the single market and the customs union. i think what that does is reflect some of the anxiety amongst conservative mps who voted to leave the eu, they are concerned that the government may be tempted to backslide in some way, they have been very concerned by comments like the chancellor suggesting there will bea the chancellor suggesting there will be a transitional deal, but exactly what kind of association we continue to have with the european union, and we know of course that labour has said that during any transition period they believe we should stay in the single market. so that is them obviously trying to say and warned the government not to in a nyway warned the government not to in anyway try to go back on that referendum result. a little earlier the broadcaster and journalist michael cockerell gave me his take on the bill. well, i can't help remembering, sitting, standing in this very place only 43 years ago when ted heath was taking us into what was then called the common market and the debates went on and on and on for months. for months! for months, absolutely. which side were tory rebels going to be on, which side was the labour party going to be on, because it was split three ways down the middle on this. but now, this is the biggest piece of legislation actually being transferred and made law in parliament's history. there are about 12,000 statutory instruments and so on as well as the law that took us into the european union, and it's all been copied and pasted under this massive bill. do you have any suspicion that even some of the politicians involved in all of this, do you think some of them went into this whole process perhaps not even realising the sheer scale of it? was there understanding? we know that doctor leanne fox said this would be one of the easiest trade deals anyone has ever had to negotiate. and even david davis himself said how easy it would be. he's now saying how difficult it is. i think they totally underestimated the fact that the 43 years many of our laws have come from brussels. and when we leave the eu this bill, is to put this bill is to put the brussels—type laws into english law and then for ministers to have the right to change them because we're no longer a member of the eu. and you've made documentaries in brussels about the institution itself. i'm fascinated therefore what you think when you listen to michelle barnier, when you listen tojean—claude yunker, what is your assessment of what is going through their mind about britain's decision to leave, about the long, long, long process that is still ahead of us all? well, i think that people like michelle barnier and jean—claude junker, they remember how difficult making deals with the british in the eu have been over the years and in some ways they're breathing a sigh of relief. they're also thinking, we'll get out own back. there were all these meetings that would go on with mrs thatcher and so on. we want our money back. and they are losing i4% of the of the eu budget, they are quite unhappy about that. it will go on for a very long time and they always say in the eu nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and it will take a long time for it to be agreed. but it is interesting, the talk now that there is, and we have just seen henry viii walking along here. the idea that british ministers can take henry viii powers, this goes back to 1539, the tudor monarchs statutory declarations, because he didn't quite like parliamentary scrutiny, so whatever he said could be law. and these will be the powers the british government now — henry viii powers — will use over a number of these instruments otherwise they would spend years and years in parliament going through the laws to amend them, because they often refer to european institutions which we will no longer be a part of. as mps debate the best way for britain to leave the eu we will be analysing the different options available. a specialist in e u law and a director of the hand side society will be on hand to take your questions today at 330. you can text us, use the hashtag on social media oi’ us, use the hashtag on social media or e—mail us. in a moment a summary of the business news but first the headlines on bbc news: hurricane news: hirmer cut a trail of devastation hurricane hirmer cut a trail of devastation across the caribbean leaving at least ten people dead. the small island of barbuda is said to be barely habitable and officials warned that saint martin is almost destroyed. mps have begun their scrutiny of the government's main brexit bill which aims to end the primacy of eu law in the uk. universities could be fined up paying their leaders large salaries under new regulations unless they can under new regulations unless they ca n prove under new regulations unless they can prove it is worth the money. in the business news... the european central bank has kept eurozone interest rates and its bond buying stimulus programme unchanged following its latest meeting. the ecb is currently buying 60bn euros of bonds a month as part of its quantitative easing programme. but analysts expect this to be scaled back given the eurozone's recovery. uk insurers have won a major victory by persuading the government to change the system used to work out compensation payments to accident victims. the changes to the so—called 0gden rate will affect payments worth billions of pounds. they're likely to cut the amount that victims will receive in compensation payments, but could also result in lower insurance premiums for drivers. more on this injust a moment. and jaguar land rover goes electric. every new car made by the manufacturer from 2020 will be electric or hybrid. it said the first of the new models that would be a fully electric vehicle, is the jaguar i—pace, which will go on sale in 2018. hello — welcome to the business news this afternoon. uk insurers have managed to persuade the government to change the system used to work out compensation payments to accident victims. the change is likely to cut the amount that victims will receive in compensation payments, but also could result in lower premiums. brett dixon is president of the association of personal injury lawyers. welcome. firstly, what is it that you fundamentally do you disagree with this change? i think the starting point has to be that it has to be looked at through the lens of providing what an injured person needs. it is catastrophically injured people who have lifelong needs, and it is important as a society that we make sure those needs are met. if that does not happen then it is ultimately you and iand happen then it is ultimately you and land your happen then it is ultimately you and i and your viewers, the taxpayers, who pick up the pieces rather than the insurance company that has taken a premium to provide that cover. 0k, but it sure this was too stringent, the enquiry has come to a similar conclusion. is it perhaps too harsh on them? it is very early stages within the process. you need to look back further. this rate was wrong for many years. it has been put right recently. the approach has to be that we need to look at, examine the detail, and there is a not—for—profit organisation that focuses on the needs of the injured person to make sure the outcome of this process comes to the needs being addressed if you are seated grievously injured in this way it is a life changing event and you are not sitting there thinking about insurance premiums, you are thinking about how it will affect you, your family, and how you will carry on with some quality—of—life. this is not about existing, it is about having quality of life and your needs being met. so what would you like to see? i would like to see the government looking closely at the actual outcome. the important thing about the 0gden rate is that to remember it is a method of calculation to reach an answer, and the answer is meeting the needs of the answer is meeting the needs of the injured person with 100% certainty in relation to that. we welcome the fact that the conversation is being hacked, we say it should be through the lens of looking at what an injured person's need is and in terms of the percentage rate, it is disappointing that the government have pre—empted some of the discussion in relation to that. thank you very much. in other business news... the institute of directors is calling on the government to let 0lder entrepreneurs dip into their pension pot without a tax penalty to fund a new business. the lobby group says older people should be able to withdraw up to 10% of their pension pot tax—free to get a start—up going. facebook says it has discovered a russian—funded campaign to promote divisive social and political messages on its network. the company said $100,000 was spent on about 3,000 ads over a two—year period and posted on topics including immigration, race and equal rights. uk houses rose at their fastest pace this year in august according to one bank. according to the halifax, a subsidiary of lloyds banking group — house prices increased 1.1% from july, the biggest one—month rise since december and building on july's 0.7% increase. let's have a look at the markets. shares in imperial brands rose 3% after it sold down some of its stake in spanish logistics firm logista. rival cigarette firm bat rose i.9%. insurer direct line was boosted by a change to the formula for calculating personal injury payments. that's all the business news. a united nations report suggests that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. an eu project starting this month aims to find out what happens to the plastic once it reaches the sea. john maguire reports from plymouth. nestled at the bottom of cliffs on the north yorkshire coast is a colony of grey seals. as the tide comes in, they wriggle and bounce their way up onto dry land, but increasingly, they're at risk when they're back in the water, from threats that are man—made. as the tide comes in, the seals will haul themselves up onto the shore. out at sea, of course, is where they do most of their hunting and eating. it's troubling to think that it's also somewhere particularly hazardous to them because of the amount of plastics that are now in our oceans. it's a major problem. there is litter in the sea that is washing in on every tide, it is coming in and out, and people do not realise that it floats, it doesn't decompose. this is the feeding environment of the birds and the seals. sometimes this is household litter. people don't always think it can still end up in the sea. look at that! you superstar. down the coast in scarborough, the seal hospital looks after the rescued animals, before releasing them once they are healthy. plastics are a constant problem. we attended a sealjust recently that was caught in a frisbee and that frisbee must have been on there for months and it had cut into about six centimetres of flesh. it had been floating in the ocean and the seal, out of curiosity, no doubt, just popped his head through it, and then, obviously, couldn't get it off. to discover more about how plastics behave in the ocean, scientists at imperial college london are taking part in a major european study. this huge wave machine will help them to model the track of the pollution. the main aim is to try to understand how plastic moves through the ocean. we want to understand how waves and currents move plastics, how it accumulates and how it affects the environment. we only know about i% of the plastic that we put into the ocean, so we want to understand, for example, how much plastic is going back to the beach. i love paddleboarding and when i first started doing it in london on the canals and rivers, i realised how bad the problem was with plastic pollution. trying to stop plastic getting into the sea in the first place is both lizzie carr's passion and ambition. there were moments i would paddle and i would see things like a coot's nest, one time, that was made up almost entirely of plastic. there were eggs in there. it was this horrifying moment. and i thought, something needs to be done. i need to show people what i'm seeing every time i'm out paddling, just how bad this problem is, inland as well as in the oceans. she has paddleboarded the length of england's canals and rivers, recruiting volunteers and helping to clean up. ultimately, this is a man—made problem and despite the resilience of the natural world, it is one that needs a man—made solution. ina in a moment the headlines but first it is time for a look at the weather. we have seen catastrophic damage caused to barbuda along with saint martin where hurricane irma made a direct impact. yesterday evening, our time, it made a direct impact. yesterday evening, ourtime, it was made a direct impact. yesterday evening, our time, it was the british virgin islands took a direct hit. rain bands are still affecting puerto rico, heavy rain for the dominican republic but the eye off shore. the storm is heading to the turks and caicos islands. there is a small islands amongst this group and it looks like it is going to be working in here roundabout midnight hour time. the storm still has wind gusts of 220 mph. from the turks and ca icos gusts of 220 mph. from the turks and caicos islands it will work towards the bahamas and is forecast to reach florida. catastrophic damage will happen to the takes and caicos islands along with the bahamas where that i wall comes onshore. the storm surge, the wall of water, could reach 20 foot high. across the uk we have still a fairly quiet conditions across england and wales, cloudier further north. a band of rain continues to push southwards with some heavy bursts this afternoon. across northern england, staying quite damp across wales and the south—west. an odd patch of rain across south. 0ccasional bright spots possible. cool in the wind across the north west. 0vernight tonight an area of low pressure still with us. rain pushes southwards across england and wales and becomes quite slow moving across southern england with the wind is really picking up here. it will be a mild night with temperatures of ii to 15 mild night with temperatures of 11 to 15 and the friday a band of rain still across southern counties, some uncertainty as to how far north or south it will go. we will see a mix of sunshine and showers to the north. showers will be blustery with a cool wind and feeling autumnal. it gets cooler in the rain towards the london area with highs of 18. the weekend sees this area of low pressure stay. widespread showers, quite cloudy, occasional sunny spells, increasingly windy as the weekend goes by. this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 2pm. hurricane irma causes widespread destruction across the caribbean, leaving at least ten people dead. the extent of the destruction in bermuda is unprecedented. i'm of the view that as it stands now, it's barely habitable. this is the moment irma struck st martin, cutting communications and destroying the airport. parts of the island are unreachable. mps have begun their scrutiny of the government's main brexit bill, which aims to transfer thousands of pieces of eu regulations into uk law. the debate will continue throughout the day. this bill simply brings european union law into uk law, ensuring