available properties, but you are right it's about how it is done. you want to write _ right it's about how it is done. 7m, want to write type of property in the right place, and in that way it can be good. the vast majority of done sectors cannot find a place to move to with suitable housing, so perhaps if there more smaller properties it might suit down sectors and open up the rental market, there can be pros and cons but it has to be regulated. we are worried that developers and others going in for a quick buck with create unsuitable housing. let’s create unsuitable housing. let's talk about what _ create unsuitable housing. let's talk about what are _ create unsuitable housing. let's talk about what are the - create unsuitable housing. let's talk about what are the things we might have heard. there might have been good news for first—time buyers and other things like that, nothing there for first—time buyers. and other things like that, nothing there forfirst—time buyers. we and other things like that, nothing there for first-time buyers. we were surrised there for first-time buyers. we were surprised by — there for first-time buyers. we were surprised by that, _ there for first-time buyers. we were surprised by that, we _ there for first-time buyers. we were surprised by that, we have _ there for first-time buyers. we were surprised by that, we have that - surprised by that, we have that mortgage guarantee scheme, which helps lenders with the buyers get a first—time deposit, there nothing with that, we would like sent extension of that. we would like to see a simplifying of the iss, the lifetime ceiling for first advice £400,000. 50 lifetime ceiling for first advice £400,000.— lifetime ceiling for first advice £400,000. ,., ~ lifetime ceiling for first advice £400,000. ~ ., ., £400,000. so somewhere like london ou can £400,000. so somewhere like london you can qualify- — £400,000. so somewhere like london you can qualify- you — £400,000. so somewhere like london you can qualify. you have _ £400,000. so somewhere like london you can qualify. you have to _ £400,000. so somewhere like london you can qualify. you have to take - you can qualify. you have to take that money _ you can qualify. you have to take that money out _ you can qualify. you have to take that money out of— you can qualify. you have to take that money out of your _ you can qualify. you have to take that money out of your ise, - you can qualify. you have to take that money out of your ise, and l that money out of your ise, and you get a penalty because you will not get a penalty because you will not get the governments contribution there, so we need that in line with there, so we need that in line with the house price growth. fine there, so we need that in line with the house price growth.— the house price growth. one thing that divides _ the house price growth. one thing that divides open _ the house price growth. one thing that divides open is _ the house price growth. one thing that divides open is stamp - the house price growth. one thing that divides open is stamp duty, l that divides open is stamp duty, something if maybe you are on the property d on it there's great news if there's a change, what do you want to see happen here? there is nothing in the announcement i'm a something with speculation there will be a pre—election boat in january or february are march, what do you make of it? at january or february are march, what do you make of it?— do you make of it? at least they didn't call— do you make of it? at least they didn't call it's — do you make of it? at least they didn't call it's a _ do you make of it? at least they didn't call it's a holiday - do you make of it? at least they didn't call it's a holiday like - do you make of it? at least they didn't call it's a holiday like a . didn't call it's a holiday like a black friday deal or something which would cause confusion and increase prices. would cause confusion and increase rices. , ., ., |f would cause confusion and increase prices-_ if you - would cause confusion and increase prices._ if you have - prices. explain that. if you have this unofficial _ prices. explain that. if you have this unofficial deadline, - prices. explain that. if you have this unofficial deadline, you - prices. explain that. if you have this unofficial deadline, you will quickly try to buy that house to get that stamp duty holiday, but what we would like to see, we think stamp duty is a tax on growth and ambition and on people moving, we want people moving to the right sized houses, so we wanted abolished forever for anyone buying a house to live in. that would allow people to move more easily within the housing market, if you want to downsize it frees up bigger homes, but it makes a lot of money for the treasury number so they would have to costed. it makes lots of money _ they would have to costed. it makes lots of money for _ they would have to costed. it makes lots of money for the _ they would have to costed. it makes lots of money for the treasure - they would have to costed. it makes lots of money for the treasure but . lots of money for the treasure but you could have stamp duty for second homes and are the things like that, but it would help the downsizing for people who want to move and we surveyed we know 16% of downsizings are not moving because of the stamp duty, which might free up housing for others. . ~ duty, which might free up housing for others. ., ,, , ., ., ., for others. thank you, paula higgins. _ for others. thank you, paula higgins, chief _ for others. thank you, paula higgins, chief executive - for others. thank you, paula higgins, chief executive of l for others. thank you, paula l higgins, chief executive of the homeowners alliance. we are down here at westminster. as we continue to look at all the details, the devil is in the details, people are defending many pages, the chancellor pointed out there were hundred and ten measures in his statement to boost the economy, this was an autumn statement for growth. we have more on that for you in a moment, i'm looking at the other implications and what it could mean for your personal budget too, but i want to run you through at this stage in the evening, some other main stories. let us return to events in the middle east. we'll have more on the autumn statement shortly but let's bring you some of the day's other news — an agreement has been reached to pause the fighting between israel and hamas in order to release 50 of the hostages abducted from israel in the seventh october attacks. hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the uk government, says that in exchange 150 palestinians will be freed from israeli prisons. the pause in fighting, which may begin in the next 24 hours, is due to last four days. here's our middle east correspondent yolande knell. 47 days into this brutal war, much of gaza lies under rubble. in the latest deadly fighting, children are said to have been crushed here, in nuseirat camp, when an israeli strike hit a family home. and they are also mourning here in khan younis. displaced people have heard news of a truce and desperately want it to stick. translation: we have been fleeing from one place to another. _ we hope the ceasefire will be good and that we will see positive solutions. we pray for people to live in peace so they can go back to theirjobs, houses, and have stability. israel's government met late into the night to discuss the agreement, only signing it off in the early hours. they agreed that at least 50 hostages will be released — all women and children. that will be over four days, while fighting in gaza will be paused. the release of every additional ten hostages will result in one additional day's pause. now, these are some of the israeli children who could soon return home. oria is four and loves football. kafir is the youngest hostage, just ten months old. in tel aviv last night, campaigners stood together as ministers met. they have been keeping up public pressure to bring their loved ones home. nervously waiting for news, gilad korngold has seven relatives missing, including his young grandchildren. nobody told me that my family would be in this deal. there was 40 children inside gaza and they are going to release only 30. where are the others? we don't know. i hope that everybody will release. palestinian families are also expecting to hear about women and teenagers set to be released from israeli jails as part of the deal. an official responsible for prisoners believes it is an important step. "this deal could signal a change in the general atmosphere" says this man. "this could calm the situation and create a new reality." a few hundred more lorry loads of aid expected during the truce should help improve the dire humanitarian situation in gaza. more fuel, which has been in short supply, is to be allowed in. for now, on all sides, there is cautious optimism. yolande knell, bbc newsjerusalem. events there in the middle east moving quickly, a reminderfor the details on bbc life page as far as him middle east is concerned. sir chris whitty, the chief medical officer, has been giving a second day of evidence to the covid inquiry. he stated that he didn't believe that all parts of number ten appreciated the urgency in which action needed to be taken in the early days of the pandemic as infections grew. what i think people were really not able to conceptualise what our exponential growth would turn from there apparently smaller numbers, still each one a tragedy, but smaller numbers, to really very large numbers in an extremely large period of time because of the doubling time. and, i think, this bit is a period where getting that through, i think, was not always straightforward. can you elaborate please, professor, on which parts of the system, in your view, might not have, to use thst phrase, got it? you said, obviously, your task was to make sure they did understand, that was one of your primary functions, but there were plainly difficulties in getting the message across, and it... on it being received in a proper manner. which parts of the system did you sense were just simply... simply didn't appreciate the emergency, the immediacy of the problem and the exponential growth? _ i think, actually, it was relatively widespread lack of understanding of where we were going to head. i think the people who had been heavily involved in looking at this, and, you know, certainly, mr cummings would be one but there were many others, had realised by now that this is heading in a very difficult direction. but, i don't think everyone in the building did, so this was not an individual, and i make this point repeatedly, this was a lot of people really not getting what exponential growth was actually going to mean. chris with you there, a familiar face during the pandemic. this afternoon the former deputy chief medical officer, jonathan van tam, began giving his evidence and admitted that there were times that the pressure nearly lead to him resigning from his role. the workload was horrendous for all others at the beginning. certainly was in the 16 hours a day mark, and it certainly wasn't seven days a week. it was very, very intense. where i think, it finally got to me was the fact that i might have... i might have expected that if a crisis happened, this was, you know, my responsibility to bear, that kind of workload. i did not expect my family to be threatened with having their throats cut, i did not expect the police to have to say: will you move out in the middle of the night, in the middle of the evening?. "will you move out for a few days well be look at this and potentially make some arrests"? you know? we did not move out because the cat, as it happened, we did not want to leave the cat. but, it was a very stressful time indeed. and, you know, my family did not sign up for that, and i only make this point because i am so worried that, if there is a future crisis, people will not want to sign up for these roles and these jobs because of the implications that come with them. some of the personal pressure there on jonathan some of the personal pressure there onjonathan van tam giving evidence at the first time in that inquiry, as far as the medical aspect was concerned, he thought the sooner action was taken to slow the spread of the virus, the better, but could not say that taking action sooner would've prevented mandatory knockdowns, but he said that if the government had not intervened when it did than the nhs would not have been able to cope. my view — i don't know if you're going to come to it — but i'll just say it anyway. my view is that, although there have been lots of expressions about the nhs overwhelmed that was possible, overtopping, overwhelming, etc., my view is that we assessed the same as sir chris that we would have first run out of high intensity care beds and it is possible within a couple of weeks. if we had not acted when we did that, we would have reached a position where the number of people requiring admission with covid — severe enough to require one hospital care could not have been admitted. jonathan van tam at the covid inquiry. police are trying to find out what caused the car accident in which four teenage boys died near tremadog in north wales. the four, aged between 16 and 18, were friends from shrewsbury in shropshire; it's believed they'd driven to wales on a camping trip. our correspondent phil mackie reports from shropshire: it is the day when the news began to sink in. near where the crash happened, a moment to reflect. four young lives lost in a crash in a remote corner of north wales. college friends from shrewsbury, jevon hirst, harvey owen, wilf fitchett and hugo morris went on a weekend camping trip, but never came back. today a candle marked the spot where their silver ford fiesta left the road. it was found upside down and partially submerged, 48 hours after they went missing. in shrewsbury, friends who are unused to bereavement are struggling to deal with the feelings that go with it. grief. it doesn't feel real. to think that they are not going to be here any more. it's a horrible feeling knowing that some lads you are so close to, seeing almost every day, i'm never going to see again. never hear their voice again. this is the college that the boys attended. and today we have seen students arriving arm in arm, some in tears, clearly struggling. the college has said it has put in measures to help support them. writing on her business's facebook page harvey owen's mum crystal posted... ifeel like i'm in a nightmare i wish i could wake up from, but i'm not. the restaurant where harvey owen worked paid tribute to him. now the flowers and messages of tribute are beginning to collect in the home town mourning four of its sons. phil mackie, bbc news, shrewsbury. now returning to events here in westminster at the date the chancellor delivered his autumn statement laying out his tax and spending plans for the year ahead. as always, in these things, focusing on what wasn't included in the statements as well as what was. that's a people pouring over the detail of the 110 announcement the chancellor said was designed to boost growth. joining me now is councillor shaun davies — chair, local government association. there's a lot in that statement, i am looking here, you asked for three men request from the chancellor in this autumn statement, how many did you get? irate this autumn statement, how many did ou net? ~ �* . , you get? we didn't get any, unfortunately, _ you get? we didn't get any, unfortunately, and - you get? we didn't get any, unfortunately, and we - you get? we didn't get any, unfortunately, and we can l you get? we didn't get any, . unfortunately, and we can have you get? we didn't get any, - unfortunately, and we can have a national growth structure it without a local growth economy, so we need to back local government so we can support local government initiatives regarding house growth boarding and the national health service, you can't get help there without fixing social care, is a shortfall in health service funding around the country. health service funding around the count . ~ ., ., ~' health service funding around the count .~ ., ., ~ ., health service funding around the count .~ ., ., ~ country. what would you like to see around from — country. what would you like to see around from the _ country. what would you like to see around from the chancellor - country. what would you like to see around from the chancellor which i around from the chancellor which mark we need business certainty and uncertainty for businesses which is important, we get our financial settlement in important, we get our financial settlement i— important, we get our financial settlement i ,, , , ., settlement in september, we want that certainty- _ settlement in september, we want that certainty. we _ settlement in september, we want that certainty. we want _ settlement in september, we want that certainty. we want the - settlement in september, we want that certainty. we want the gap . settlement in september, we want that certainty. we want the gap of| that certainty. we want the gap of £4 billion over the next two years to be acknowledge, that is because of rising demands and services, but that's more children in our social care services, more vulnerable adults we are supporting, more people in temporary accommodation than ever before, all boosting because in consuls and we need that money matched by the government. local services are being stretched but so are local tax bills, and the sad reality is that consol tax bills will go up and getting a real, but the funding that raises will not be enough to fund the gap, which means residents will be pacing more in local taxes. we residents will be pacing more in local taxes-— residents will be pacing more in localtaxes. ~ ., ., ., local taxes. we know inflation has been at record _ local taxes. we know inflation has been at record highs _ local taxes. we know inflation has been at record highs and - local taxes. we know inflation has been at record highs and the - local taxes. we know inflation has been at record highs and the cost| local taxes. we know inflation has l been at record highs and the cost of things have gone up, theyjust go up less quickly, that should start to ease the pressure, the government saysin ease the pressure, the government says in this statement these are long—term decisions which will pay off years from now, but the challenge as you point out is that the funding gap now isn't there. we have the funding gap now isn't there. - have more counsellors declaring themselves effectively bankrupt over themselves effectively bankrupt over the last few years, one or two are saying they are the point of financial distress which means local services become more and more broken and stretched, meaning more money is spent elsewhere, which is more expensive expensive. for example, if you can't have elderly persons standing their home longer, they go into national health services and bolivar care, if you can support vulnerable children regarding issues like special care needs and mental health, that will cost the system more money to stop preventable services we are talking about are often invited by the local government, but they are not able to provide them because of the financial frustration they are in. when you hear the government talk about levelling up and spending was across the country and making sure more opportunities for people outside the city, and then to that you get none of what you ask for in this autumn statement, how do you feel? �* , , ., ., this autumn statement, how do you feel? �*, ,., ., ,, feel? it's frustration because we wanted to cross _ feel? it's frustration because we wanted to cross pa