At a Student Accommodation building in bolton after more than 200 firefighters spent nine hours putting it out. Competing on Climate Change policies, the conservatives say they will plant 30 Million Trees a year by 2025 if it wins the general election but the lib dems say they can plant twice as many trees. Meanwhile, leading labour and trade union figures are meeting to decide which policies will be included in the partys election manifesto. And in half an hour, brexitcast looks back at the first full week of Election Campaigning. Good afternoon. The duke of york has told the bbc he has no recollection of ever meeting the woman who says she was made to have sex with him when she was 17. In an exclusive interview with newsnight, to be broadcast tonight, Prince Andrew insisted he didnt remember Virginia Roberts, despite the existence of a photograph showing the two of them together, said to have been taken in 2001. He also said it was wrong to stay at the home ofjeffrey epstein, after he was found guilty of child sex offences. At the time he felt it was the right and honourable thing to do. Our royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell reports. The year is 2010. Prince andrew was in new york. Hes videoed staying at the mansion of a convicted child sex offender called jeffrey epstein, whod just been released from an 18 month prison sentence. Andrews presence gives rise to questions put to him by bbc newsnights Emily Maitlis. But you were staying at the house. Yes. Of a convicted sex offender. It was a convenient place to stay. I mean, ive gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one can have, um, it was definitely the wrong thing to do. Um, but, at the time, i felt it was the honourable and right thing to do. And i. I admit fully that. That. That my judgment was probably coloured by my, um, tendency to be too honourable, but thats just the way it is. And then, there is andrews alleged friendship with the then 17 year old Virginia Roberts, who was on epsteins payroll. She has alleged andrew seduced her. She says she met you in 2001, she says she dined with you, danced with you at tramp nightclub in london. She went on to have sex with you in a house in belgravia belonging to ghislaine maxwell, your friend. Your response . I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever. You dont remember meeting her . No. It was in 2001, according to Virginia Roberts, that she had sex with andrew on three occasions including one orgy. The palace has denied that. In 2008, epstein was convicted of procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. It was in 2010, after epstein had been released from prison, that andrew visited him in new york and stayed at his mansion. I stayed with him. Thats, thats. Thats the bit that. As it were i kick myself for on a daily basis. He chuckles. Because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family. And we try and uphold the highest standards and practices, and i let the side down, simple as that. But nothing about this story is simple. Jeffrey epstein cant answer questions he took his own life in august. As for andrew, lawyers for Virginia Roberts want him to make a statement under oath. The us authorities would almost certainly like to hear his account of everything he witnessed. Nicholas witchell, bbc news. Joining me now is our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell. The process of arriving at a point the process of arriving at a point where the duke says yes to this interview, what kind of discussions might have been going on do you think . Well, newsnight and Emily Maitlis said they were in discussions for some six months. Prince andrew is always keen to talk about his work but clearly, no interview could have been done without addressing all of this. As i understand it, there were discussions over a number of months with, interestingly, Andrews Office rather than with the central royal communications, the Buckingham Palace press office. They have been left rather out of all this. Now, whether their advice would have been to go ahead with this interview, im not so sure. But i think was determined it was andrews own determination to do. An interview. Its a gamble for him and his reputation. It has placed it across every front page in this country and its getting a lot of international attention, as well. It has given legs to the allegations against him. He will be hoping, obviously, that he will be able to rebut them in an effective and credible way. And that his wish, of course, is to move on, draw a his wish, of course, is to move on, drawa line, his wish, of course, is to move on, draw a line, and his wish, of course, is to move on, drawa line, and move his wish, of course, is to move on, draw a line, and move on. Its his 60th birthday quite soon and i think he wants to just be rid of this. But whether that will be the net effect of all of this is perhaps a little naive, but it is important to qualify that by saying that until we have seen and heard the entire interview, it is an hour long programme, i think it is. It is. Unwise to kinda prejudge what will be the outcome of this. In terms of what we do know of its content at this point, do you highlight at this stage . Well, the two central areas. Stage . Well, the two central areas. I was going to say the relationship with Virginia Roberts, they absolutely deny any relationship but what contact was there with Virginia Roberts . In what way does he credibly deal with her allegations of sexual contact . We will have to wait and see. It is important to say, of course, that all along, Buckingham Palace has absolutely categorically denied any impropriety and all of that. But we need to hear it from andrews own mouth later on tonight. The other aspect of this is his friendship with jeffrey epstein. Aspect of this is his friendship withjeffrey epstein. As he acknowledges, that is where he is caught out, there is really no mitigation that he can find for that, for visiting and continuing a friendship with a man who, by 2010, was a convicted child sex offender. Now, andrew is already on the record as saying that he went to new york to see him to break off the friendship. Quite why you need to stay for several nights in his mansion in new york in order to break off a friendship is one of those questions. But we need to hear just how authoritatively and with what sort of conviction he actually deals with these issues in the interview tonight. And the phrase let interview tonight. And the phrase let the size down is interesting because it it implies the sense of looking at this through the prism of what it does to the royal family letting the side down. He will be intensely aware of that. He is a proud man. He will know that his mother must be dismayed at the impact that this has been having and continues to have. We are told the queen approved him doing this interview and i suspect by this stage, at the age of 93, sometimes it is said he is herfavourite stage, at the age of 93, sometimes it is said he is her favourite son, whatever, and if he comes along and says, i want to do this, i believe it is the right thing to do, she will have said, well, if you are absolutely sure, go ahead. But i think there will be great concern within Buckingham Palace at the impact that this is all having on, as it were, the good name of the royal family. As it were, the good name of the royalfamily. And as it were, the good name of the royal family. And they will be very anxious, obviously, to protect that. Thank you very much indeed. Im joined now by the pr agent Mark Borkowski via webcam from stroud in gloucestershire. Good afternoon. If your advice had been sought by the duke as to whether he should do this interview or not, what would you have said . Whether he should do this interview or not, what would you have said . |j would or not, what would you have said . would have said no, dont do it. To me, its a gamble. And you dont gamble in this day and age with a reputation. Particularly when the whole social media universe can judge you. I listened to a couple of extracts in the package and i suspected what. You extracts in the package and i suspected what. You know, i agree with Nicholas Witchell, you cant judge an interview until youve seen it, but there were a couple of tones in his voice where he felt the questions were quite wearisome. And i think he finds the whole situation wearisome. Clearly, this is a man who wants to do a lot of good for the country and has a lot of charitable interests and i suspect he is looking at his diary next year and they probably isnt and it isnt as full as it has been in the previous years. It is a desperate act. And when you are categorically saying you do not remember this woman, where there is lots of photographic evidence, and this woman is saying he definitely did meet me and we had an intimate relationship of sorts, you had better be absolutely sure that that isnt going to come back and haunt you, as the allegations of Monica Lewinsky came to haunt bill clinton. This is not a situation that in control of. We had that clearly, he wasnt given any prepared questions. It wouldnt take a person with rudiments of Public Relations to understand what questions are coming his way but this is a high risk gamble. When previous members of the royalfamily had gamble. When previous members of the royal family had taken gamble. When previous members of the royalfamily had taken high risk gamble, Princess Diana with Martin Bashir and that interview and of course prince charles, they ended up not going the way that the royal family wished and created massive disruption stop clearly, this is an attempt to put a line under it and i would have thought that he woke up to see the papers and see the news across the world and would have been getting indigestion before his brea kfast. Getting indigestion before his breakfast. The alternative, i suppose, following your line of argument, is that you stay quiet. You dont deal with the issues head on. And new hope they go away. Add to an extent, that they gamble as well, isnt it . And you hope. To an extent, that they gamble as well, isnt it . And you hope. We live in a world of short term amnesia and long term memory loss. You know, iwould you know, i would suggest that this is not of one of the premier members of the royal family. Is not of one of the premier members of the royalfamily. Clearly, meghan and. Has been the centre of attention and has probably deflected away from this. I am not aware of theissues away from this. I am not aware of the issues that surround this thats going on below the water line. Clearly, stuff is going on that might have created this judgment. But there is always the opportunity to put your best foot forward and suggest an interview. But you need to be able to have all your cards on the table and understand that risk. Maybe they have. But, again, Nicholas Witchell suggesting that official channels in Buckingham Palace have not been across this and its been a personal decision. And sometimes, people who dont have the greatest relationship with the media dont have the greatest. Respect for journalists. Dont have the greatest. Respect forjournalists. And hasnt got many friends and has been quite belligerent in the way that he has not interacted with the media, so going in now, with all that history, isnt altogether a sound situation. And you are correct. You cant let this run on much longer. But i think the timing of it, at the moment, with so much going on with the election and, you know, the issues in america where this story resonates with trump and possible impeachment, its not a bad time to do an interview and hope it buries it. But i think itll open up, you know, quite a lot of questions. And, ultimately, the man is not guilty of anything, hes not been charged with anything. There is a huge amount of speculation. And i guess it will come the day when, if this is the way to answer it, it is a court of law. At the moment, this man is presumed guilty and he is defending his innocence, which, you know, its clearly why he feels he has to strike back. A brief final one, if you would. Going back to my first question, hes done what you dont think he should have done. We are where we are. If he comes to you now and says, this hasnt gone very well now, what do i do . What do you say . You get one chance. You certainly dont do anything as a knee jerk. Again, you strategically view the investor in front of you and look for a Second Opportunity to bury this. Look at the strategic view in front of you. While you still have a breath in your body, you can a lwa ys have a breath in your body, you can always do something. With every crisis, there is an opportunity. But i will be watching at 9pm tonight and fullyjudging what that situation. And, who knows, he might have pulled off a pr coup, we are spectating before the act, so, lets see. Fair enough. Thank you very much. And you can see the full interview in a bbc newsnight special on bbc two, and here on the news channel, tonight at nine oclock and also on the iplayer. Firefighters have been tackling a huge blaze at an accommodation block for University Students in bolton. Crowds of students were evacuated from the cube when the fire broke out at about 8. 30pm last night. It took 200 firefighters nine hours to put the fire out, which had spread to every floor. Two people were treated by paramedics. The fire service spoke at the scene this morning. We have identified and we do know everyone that resided in the building and we are still working through, trying to contact everyone who lived in the premises. So, at the minute, we cannot confirm that everyone is accounted for. One thing that i would just like to confirm and allay any fears was that this cladding on this building was not. Was not the same cladding that was on grenfell. 0livia richwald is in bolton for us now. Bring bolton for us now. Us up to date, 0livia, what is the bring us up to date, 0livia, what is the situation as we speak . Well, much of the centre of bolton remains closed as the firefighters continue to tackle the aftermath of this blaze, which started at around 8p last night. At its peak, there were 200 firefighters involve 8pm. You cant see the building but i will describe it. The top of the building has been completely burned away, you can only see the structure of the building, all of the cladding has gone. This morning, ive been speaking to students who described how quickly the fire spread and that intense heat. But, as you said, the fire service held a press conference this morning in which they said it was not the same cladding as used in g re nfell was not the same cladding as used in grenfell. Olivia, thank you very much for the update. 0livia in bolton. More from her throughout the afternoon as there are further developments at the scene of that fire. You are watching bbc news. The headlines on bbc news. The duke of york has said he let the side down by staying at the home of convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein, adding it was the wrong thing to do. An investigation is under way into the cause of a fire at a Student Accommodation building in bolton after more than 200 firefighters spent nine hours putting it out. Competing on Climate Change policies. The conservatives say they will plant 30 Million Trees a year by 2025 if it wins the general election but the libdems say they can plant twice as many trees. Meanwhile, leading labour and trade union figures are meeting to decide which policies will be included in the partys election manifesto. Lets stay with that last headline. Senior labour party and trade union figures are meeting in Central London today to decide which policies will be included in the partys election manifesto. Labour has already announced a number of policies, including a pa rt nationalisation of bt to make broadband free for everyone, and extra spending on infrastructure. 0ur Political Correspondent iain watson has more. Talk us through what is likely to happen in the coming hours. Well, what happened straightaway when the senior labourfigures what happened straightaway when the senior labour figures were going into this meeting behind me was there was a demonstration here by people on the Free Movement issue. This is a conference policy, something which labour delegates had agreed in the autumn, notjust to maintain but extend the Free Movement of workers, irrespective of brexit. The decision that has to be taken today is whether that becomes a firm manifesto commitment. Some people are incredibly concerned. The message it may send out to voters about immigration. 0ne union delegate are said to me the word extend Free Movement is unacceptable and will not be in the final ma nifesto. And will not be in the final manifesto. There is a bit of a row going on in there on precisely what the wedding will be as i understand it. The approach will be an attempt to say whatever the policy on mobility of labour, they will be new policies on Employment Law and new regulations to try to ensure that british workers, if you like, people already in this country, are not going to be undercut by migrants. Thats one of the areas they are concentrating on, but whenJeremy Corbyn arrived here, he was very keen to get the debate on to the wider picture, the Bigger Picture for labour, this idea that they are encouraging greater state involvement in the economy. They would say for championing the consumers and offering radical ma nifesto. Were having our clause v meeting today to decide the contents of our manifesto and its going to be a document that will be transforming the lives of people all over this country. Im looking forward to some really good discussions. Reporter are you expecting some tough discussions . 0bviously, obviously, a very positive spin from Jeremy Corbyn, but there are still some underlying tensions, perhaps not big disagreements, but areas where the people around the table in their trade union senior labour figures, shadow cabinet members still have to negotiate. For example, there is a commitment at labours conference for britain to become Carbon Neutral by 2030. At least one big union thinks thats unrealistic and they want that figure taken out. What is likely to happen is that they will be some fiddling around with the drafting and it will look as though that is more of a target rather than a hard deadline. 0ne more of a target rather than a hard deadline. One big policy area, which still hasnt been touched or unveiled, still being discussed at the moment, is more help for women who were effectively caught out by increase in the state pension age to 66. Some of them felt they hadnt had time to plan for their retirement and there has been a campaign to make sure they get some kind of compensation. I am told they will be some wording to come out in the labour manifesto agreeing a process which would address their concerns. Thank you very much. The snp leader Nicola Sturgeon has called on the scottish people to deny Boris Johnson the majority he craves. Speaking on the campaign trail on the east coast of scotland, she said that evidence suggests that brexit will hit the north east of scotland harder than anywhere else. 0ur news correspondent Alexandra Mackenzie sent this update. Nicola sturgeon has been out campaigning across the north east of scotland. She was here in arbroath, the home of the arbroath smokie. Her main message today has been about brexit. Scotland voted to remain within the European Union and Nicola Sturgeon has said today a vote for the snp is a vote against borisjohnsons hard brexit. In her words, a vote for the snp is a vote to stop scotland being taken out of the European Union against its will. There are 13 tory mps across scotland and Nicola Sturgeon has said that the snp is the main challenger in all of those seats. She has said that this election is probably the most important in her lifetime. Nicola sturgeon has also said, again, she would like an independence referendum in 2020. She said that scotland would be better if the power was within the hands of the scottish people. Now, we are here in arbroath. This is where the declaration of Scottish Independence was signed in 1320. So possibly no coincidence that Nicola Sturgeon was here earlier today. Elsewhere, the conservatives and the liberal democrats are both promising to plant millions of trees to tackle Climate Change, if they win the election. The tories said there would be 30 million new trees every year by 2025. While the lib dems are pledging to plant twice as many. 0ur news correspondent danjohnson has been on the campaign trail with the Prime Minister in mansfield. He sent us this update. The Prime Ministers been out and about on the streets of mansfield this morning, knocking on doors, pushing leaflets through letter boxes, trying to get that message across about getting brexit done is the big slogan down the side of the bus. Perhaps not the place youd expect to see a conservative Prime Minister mansfield a former mining town, formerly a very industrial area. But in 2017, for the first time, this seat switched from having previously always had a labour mp to having a conservative mp, ben bradley, who is seeking re election here. This is a sign that the conservatives are really intent on at least defending the gains that they made at the last election and this is one of those seats they would have feared may have possibly switched back to labour. So now that the brexit party has stood aside in seats like this, its for borisjohnson and the conservatives to really campaign hard to try to stop those seats from switching back to labour or indeed moving in any other direction. Now, the Prime Ministers supposed to be moving on to a farm on the edge of mansfield here to talk about his environmental policies. He is announcing today that he will plant more than 30 Million Trees over the next five years, if he is still Prime Minister. Thats something thats really come into the Election Campaign agenda over the first week or so, with Jeremy Corbyn saying that his policies are all about decarbonising our economy. And the liberal democrats today saying they will plant a 60 Million Trees. 60 Million Trees. Weve already got the game of one upmanship trying to get one ahead of each other. And its an interesting policy, because i spent half of the week up to my knees in flood water in South Yorkshire and a lot of people there, as well as talking about flood defences, have talked about how important it is that further up river catchments there is a tree planting, there is more vegetation, to try to hold rainwater, so that it doesnt all flow down the rivers and flood the lower lying areas. Now, i dont think this policy has just been announced in response to that, but its certainly something that those people who have been affected by flooding this week will see as a positive, if indeed it is able to be achieved over the next five years. But, of course, as weve seen time and time again with environmental targets, they are promised and then probably not delivered. Very hard to deliver on some of these environmental promises. One thing that might disrupt todays Campaign Agenda is this serious fire in bolton and the Prime Minister has tweeted a message this morning, saying his thoughts are with all those affected by that fire, that he is thankful to the Emergency Services for the brave response and that he is in touch with the chief fire officer. They are making sure they have everything they need. Were just waiting to see what impact that might have on the Prime Ministers plans later today. That was dan johnson with that was danjohnson with the Prime Minister in mansfield. And our news correspondent jon donnison is in london where liberal democrat leader jo swinson is campaigning. What has been happening . Well, jo swinson is targeting labour seats in london that she believes the liberal democrats can pick up from them. She is here with her big yellow, or to my mind her big orange bus. Shes also been talking about planting trees, 60 Million Trees a year from 2025, so double what the conservatives are pledging. That would mean some million hectares more of the forest by 2045. She planted a tree herself up in hampstead this morning. And she was asked whether the project wasnt perhaps a little too ambitious . No, i think we need to be ambitious, first of all. We are facing a climate emergency. I was met this morning by a group of children and this is about their future. And we need to make sure that we do everything that we can to avert that disaster to protect our planet for their future. Planting trees is one of the best things we can do. Its good for air quality, its good for our mental health, we all like being around trees, and, most importantly, it is good because trees absorb Carbon Dioxide emissions. And so they are a crucial part for how we get to a net zero carbon. What liberal democrats are proposing by planting 60 Million Trees a year, its actually ambitious, but it takes us back to being a bit more ambitious than what we were managing to do at the end of 1980s, when we were planting 30,000 hectares roughly every single year. And we can get back to that and we can do more, and we should be doing more because of the threat that we face. Theres no room here for half measures, when were talking about protecting our childrens future. You hinted at this a moment ago, but what is the wider liberal democrat approach in london going to be here . Well, this afternoon, jo swinson is in bermondsey. She has been at a pizza restaurant, an italian restau ra nt, pizza restaurant, an italian restaurant, and she has been speaking to eu citizens, some 3 million of them living in the uk, and she has been talking to them about their concerns, about the uncertainty caused by brexit and of course, the lib dems pitching themselves very much as the party of remain. But it is interesting, if you look at the seat where we were this morning, hampstead and kilburn, in 2017, the lib dems got only 7 of the vote. But they are targeting that, believing they can take it off labour because in those areas, they did vote very heavily remain in the referendum. In camden as high as 75 of people voted remain. They believe that by pitching themselves as the party of remain, they can win seats such as that of the labour party. Thank you very much. The bbcs children in need appeal has raised almost £48 million, slightly lower than last years on the night total. Stars from strictly come dancing, doctor who, star wars, and the England Football Team took part in the five hour annual telethon. Now its time for a look at the weather with stave danaos. Thanks very much, good afternoon. Quite a lot of cloud out there at the moment with some spells of rain and also dry a brighter weather as well in the midlands southwards and across parts of scotland, too. Tonight, we have one weather front pushing into western scotland, Northern Ireland, which will introduce more cloud and apparatus of rain and snow on the hills. Because a more clad, not quite as cold than the previous night. It will straddle central parts with further outbreaks of rain, north east england and some parts of wales. Sunday is a wet across the north east with heavier bursts of rain increasing sunshine in scotland and Northern Ireland as High Pressure comes in, just some showers peppering the far north coast but this weather front continues to trail and bring some cloudy weather into wales and the south west. High pressure builds in for the start of next week, monday and tuesday look glorious but a cold and frosty morning with the dry and lots of sunshine. Mid week, low pressure in the atlantic brings outbreaks of rain to Western Areas but strengthening wind in the south will see temperatures climbing very slowly by the end of the week. Hello. This is bbc news. The headlines. Prince andrew speaks publicly for the first time, about his friendship with the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. In an exclusive interview with bbc newsnight, the duke says it was wrong to stay at epsteins house, and admits he let the side down. Thats the bit that, that, that, um, as it were, i kick myself for on a daily basis cause it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family. Prince andrew also said he had no recollection of meeting Virginia Roberts, who claims she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 after being groomed by epstein. He denies any inappropriate conduct. An investigation is under way into the cause of a fire at a Student Accommodation building in bolton after more than 200 firefighters spent nine hours putting it out