This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. The uk Prime Minister, boris johnson, sticks by his top aide over claims Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown rules by travelling across the country. I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. Mounting calls for mr cummings to resign will overshadow todays cabinet discussions on lifting coronavirus restrictions. A Top German Court rules volkswagen must pay compensation to motorists who purchased diesel cars that the Company Modified to appear less polluting. Japan prepares to lift its state of emergency in tokyo and surrounding areas after a fall in the rate of infections. And parents and teachers are told to prepare for the return of more pupils to schools in england from next monday as planned. Hello and welcome if youre watching in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. Theres mounting pressure on the Prime Minister, borisjohnson, to fire his key adviser, Dominic Cummings, for travelling across the country during the coronavirus lockdown. Conservative backbenchers, the Opposition Labour Party and some scientists have condemned mr cummings apparent flouting of the government guidance, with many accusing him of seriously undermining Public Confidence in measures to halt the spread of covid 19. Borisjohnson says his adviser acted responsibly, legally and with integrity. The cabinet meets this afternoon to discuss the latest moves to ease the lockdown in england. Our correspondent, simonjones, reports. Reporter have you undermined the message, mr cummings . Leaving downing street with the backing of the Prime Minister, but there are growing calls for Dominic Cummings to quit or be fired. Hes accused of breaking lockdown rules by travelling to durham when his wife had coronavirus symptoms so they could be close to other family members in case they needed help caring for their young son. I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. I believe that, in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity. The uk was placed into lockdown on the 23rd of march with strict limitations on travel. The government guidelines stated
you should not be visiting family members who do not live in your home. The last time Dominic Cummings was seen before developing coronavirus symptoms was in london on the 27th of march. Four days later, Durham Police said it was made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from london to durham. On the 12th of april, newspaper reports suggested mr cummings was spotted in the town of barnard castle, 30 miles from his parents home. Two days later, he was photographed back in downing street. But on the 19th of april, its alleged mr cummings again travelled to the north east. Number 10 says this is false. Labour wants an enquiry. This was a huge test of the Prime Minister and hes just failed that test. He hasnt sacked Dominic Cummings, he hasnt called for an investigation, and hes treating the British Public with contempt. The former conservative minister, paul maynard, tweeted. The concern is shared by one scientist whos been advising the government. If we undermine the unity between the population and the government, if People Lose Trust and lose adherence, if they stop complying with the measures which have contained the infection, then all of us will lose out because the infection will spike again and many more people will die. Hypocrite resign Dominic Cummings was heckled as he returned home, but as the cabinet meets today to discuss plans to further ease the lockdown, ministers are facing the accusation that its one rule for downing street and one for the rest of us. Simon jones, bbc news. Our chief political correspondent, vicki young, is outside the Prime Ministers office at downing street in london. Vicki, the Dominic Cummings row continuing to overshadow everything else. Yes and i think it will because i think people feel that there are still some unanswered
questions. Particularly about whether he made a trip to a castle on Easter Sunday when the guidelines clearly said that you should be staying at home, that the only travel if that journey staying at home, that the only travel if thatjourney is essential. Of course, i think people looking at this and people have listened to that over the last couple of days will think, yes, you can of course go through these pages and pages of guidelines like there is a lot of them mike and there is exemptions, you could do that, but in the end most people know what they were being asked to do in that time and it was to stay at home. The other interesting thing is that the fact that people are now talking about the Prime Ministers judgment that people are now talking about the Prime Ministersjudgment by standing up and defending his adviser, it is notjust now about what Dominic Cummings did, but what the Prime Minister knew, did he sanction this, did he know that at the time . And people think, actually, he has made a wrong judgment here in keeping his adviser. As you say, dominating everything, cabinet ministers who are giving interviews are sure to be asked about this time and time
again. Exec they what happened to the education secretary Gavin Williamson this morning. The guidance is incredibly extensive and at the heart of that guidance is always the issue of safeguarding children. And making sure that children are always absolutely protected. And my understanding is, from what the Prime Minister said yesterday, and you saw it as i did, is that at every stage Dominic Cummings and his family followed the guidance. At no stage did Dominic Cummings or his family break the law. Of course, the issue with the Prime Minister saying that Dominic Cummings followed his instinct as a parent, there are lots of parents around the country have been in a similar position. And they did not act in this way. That is the other point about this, it is not normal times, the coronavirus, the restrictions placed on everyone have affected absolutely everybody in the country. That is why i think there
is this anger. Conservative mps say they have been e mailed contacted by constituents. A lot of them now saying that they feel there needs to be an investigation into what happened in order to get the facts straight. Nicola sturgeon, who went through something similar with an advisor, you will remember in scotla nd advisor, you will remember in scotland her chief medical officer was found to have travelled to a second home during lock time, she resigned. This is what Nicola Sturgeon mix of what is going on here. During lockdown. I think hes come to the wrong judgment. The reason why i think that matters is that the consequences are potentially so serious. As we go into the next phases of dealing with this crisis, as we start to lift lockdown restrictions and rely less on the letter of the law and more on guidance and appeal to peoples good judgment, then trust in the advice we are giving and the reasons why we are giving that advice is really important. And people, if they get any sense that it is one rule for them and another rule for people in positions of authority, then that will become very difficult. The sacrifices people have made over
these past few weeks are immense. I think that is the point that some conservative mps are worried about, that this undermines those clear m essa 9 es that this undermines those clear messages from the government. At the moment, there are going to be announcements about unlocking and using those restrictions, but you know there could come a time when more restrictions need to be placed back on people and what they do not wa nt to back on people and what they do not want to that message undermined by things that officials here might have done. Thank you very much, vicky. Joining me now is Professor Robert west, professor of Health Psychology at University College london and a government scientific advisor. Welcome and thank you forjoining us. Welcome and thank you forjoining us. The Prime Minister said that Dominic Cummings followed the instincts of every parent, acted responsibly, legally, and with integrity. Do you agree . Responsibly, legally, and with integrity. Do you agree . |j responsibly, legally, and with integrity. Do you agree . I think that he did follow the instinct of a pa rent that he did follow the instinct of a parent and that is precisely the problem. The Prime Minister should have realised that, that the reason why these guidelines and rules were
put in place is because people will have a very difficult choices to make in their lives and i think as of the previous clips have shown, many, of the previous clips have shown, any of the previous clips have shown, many, many people, thousands of people in the country, have made thatjudgment people in the country, have made that judgment and have people in the country, have made thatjudgment and have stuck to the rules. At great cost to themselves and, in many cases, to their loved ones, and are continuing to do so and need to do so, so when they see some in any position of power and authority not doing that, then that is problematic, but when they see the Prime Minister of the country saying, well, actually, it is ok to follow your instinct as a father and somehow making a virtue of it, i think this is where a lot of people have really struggled to understand why he would do that. We will come onto how people might react Going Forward , onto how people might react Going Forward, but just onto how people might react Going Forward, butjust looking back to
what actually happened. Gavin williamson, the education secretary this morning was saying at every stage he followed the guidelines. He did not do anything illegal. In a very straightforward way, what was what he did following the guidelines . The guidelines have, at that stage, where very clear in the way that they said stay at home was a guidance. However, it was recognised that this cannot apply in every single situation so there were some exemptions put in place. These we re some exemptions put in place. These were things like if you find yourself in an abusive relationship and you need to seek refuge, then, of course, you must go out of the home and do that. Or, if you have a situation where you have got a very sick child and you need to leave the home in order to be able to address that situation. So the exceptions where there for a really very serious problematic situations. Now
ina serious problematic situations. Now in a situation like this, if you have senior government adviser or a government minister, the natural thing to do would be if you really have concerns, would be to seek advice from the cabinet secretary or someone advice from the cabinet secretary or someone high up in the. About what you should do. If they then say, i understand youre in a very difficult situation, ok, that should be fine, then that is ok. Whether he did that are not, i do not know. If he had done that, i would expect him to say so. And then i think people might have understood that, even though the judgment might have been wrong, at least it was made in good faith. Coming onto how people, the general public might take this Going Forward. We are in a different stage of this, been told he is a common sense, our ownjudgment, of this, been told he is a common sense, our own judgment, what of this, been told he is a common sense, our ownjudgment, what impact do you think it might have on the integrity of the lockdown and people doing the right thing to stop the spread of the disease . Obviously it
has put this at risk. I think the key thing that we need, that eve ryo ne key thing that we need, that Everyone Needs to remember is that the reason why we are dealing to these rules is not for Dominic Cummings early Prime Minister, it is for ourselves, for our loved ones, for ourselves, for our loved ones, for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our friends for ourselves, for our loved ones, for ourfriends and for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our friends and family not for our friends and family not for Dominic Cummings or the Prime Minister. And at those principles remain. That is why we are doing it. Even though there appears to have been quite a substantial failure of leadership, that does not necessarily mean we have to sort of ta ke necessarily mean we have to sort of take things into our own hands and somehow behave in a way that is going to cause harm to the community. So the guidance remains. And i think one of the things that we also need to do is to restore confidence in the system is that we are going to be using Going Forward for example, as we go from a
blanket lockdown type social distancing situation to something that has more nuance, we are going to be relying more on testing, contact tracing, and isolation. And that does require a high degree of trust and confidence in the system andi trust and confidence in the system and i think the government has got a really big job of work to do to restore that confidence and to get that system up and running in a way that system up and running in a way that people will say, yes, i am willing to go along with that. Professor robert matt, thank you very much. This robert west. In the past hour, germanys top court has ruled that volkswagen should pay compensation to motorists who bought cars fitted with emissions cheating software. The car maker has already paid billions of dollars in fines for installing Software Designed to artificially improve its emissions test results. Lets speak to our correspondent in berlin, jenny hill, for more on this. Just remind us about the details of this case because it was a one man
who took volkswagen to court saying that he basically wanted his money back having bought a car on a false premise. Yes, youre quite right. This was a pensioner who bought a vw car back in 2014 and he butted in good faith, he said, and once the emission scandal came to light, he went to volkswagen and said he wa nted went to volkswagen and said he wanted them to take the volkswagen back of him and refund his money. Germanys top civil court has by and large agreed with him. They say that vw must buy the car back. But the money that the men will get will be a little less than the vehicles original value, that is to compensate for wear and take wear and tear, depreciation and son. He will get around 25,000 euros now. That is quite a big moment here in germany because there are around 60,000 other vw owners out there who have launched similar complaints i in the courts and this could, in some respects, open the floodgates toa some respects, open the floodgates to a degree. When you look at the sums of money involved, this man is
getting 25,000 euros and at times that are a little bit less than that by 60,000 people and actually this is going to run into the millions. Compared to the 30 billion euros bill that this company has already paid out in fines and regulatory fees and compensation in other parts of the world so far. It is actually not a huge amount of money. Of the world so far. It is actually not a huge amount of moneym of the world so far. It is actually not a huge amount of money. It has been back and forth in the court with appeals, is this it . Or is there possibly going to be further appeals . Well, these tens of thousands of other complainants will now see this as a very positive moment for them so their cases are likely to continue and be heard. Vw had already settled out of court with several hundred thousand car owners here in germany, far less amounts and terms of payments to them. But that sort of collective action, as it is known here, has been dealt with. There are other ramifications, so five years after
vw actually finally admitted that it had been cheating as emissions tests and the ramifications are still coming and there are actions still outstanding, including actions being taken by shareholders, investors who say that they lost a lot of money when their share value plummeted after that admission so there are still a lot of court cases outstanding and a number of executives have been charged with various charges over the years too. Just last week we heard that the current chief executive and the current chief executive and the current chair of the financial Supervisory Board have now, after payment of 9 billion euros by vw, now no longerface payment of 9 billion euros by vw, now no longer face charges. Over what the courts were suggesting was their part in the scandal. But yet another executive still faces charges. So this is not over yet by a long stretch. And of course, what lasts even longer, and it is hard to imaginea lasts even longer, and it is hard to imagine a ceiling going away, is at the same left on the reputation of this huge german car maker. To