It's been another day of last-minute programming changes for sport coverage on the BBC
Presenters have refused to appear on BBC sport shows in solidarity with Gary Lineker
Coverage of the WSL match between Chelsea and Manchester United was provided by "world feed" commentator Nigel Adderley
However it's business as usual for Scotland v Ireland in the Six Nations Championship, with commentary and pundits
Later on Sunday, Match of the Day 2 is expected to be "much-reduced" with no presenter, pundits, or commentary
The disruption follows the BBC's decision to suspend Gary Lineker for his tweets about UK asylum policy
Speaking to reporters outside his house, Lineker says he is unable to say anything on the impartiality row
George Lineker has told the Sunday Mirror, external he thought his father would return to presenting Match of the Day.
But, he added that Lineker "won't ever back down on his word".
Image source, Getty ImagesGary Lineker has just told journalists "I can't say anything at the moment" in response to questions outside his home.
Reporters fired questions as he headed off to walk his dog, including: "do you still want to work for the BBC," and "is this the end of your presenting career?"
They also questioned whether he had spoken with Tim Davie, the BBC's director general, but he would not be drawn on any answers.
The Women’s Super League match between Chelsea and Manchester United is now on air on BBC Two, with world feed commentator Nigel Adderley.
The world feed is not run by the BBC, it is full match commentary designed for a global audience.
Coverage of the Women's Super League in London has started - but as we've been reporting, it's programming on BBC2 is expected to be reduced with no pre-match presentation.
Stay with us for more, or follow the match when it begins here.
The BBC's director general Tim Davie has made a number of statements while the Gary Lineker row has rumbled on:
In this interview, Davie is pressed by correspondent Nomia Iqbal on trust in the BBC, accusations of double standards and whether he faced pressure from the government to remove Gary Lineker.
The 12 to 2pm slot is usually reserved for 5Live Premier League Sunday - a sports commentary show.
Instead, podcast Sports Strangest Crime will fill the airwaves today.
If you're just joining us, the Women's Super League match between Chelsea and Manchester United will start in less than an hour.
The game will be shown on BBC 2, but there will be no pre-match presentation.
And, just like yesterday's Match of the Day programme that did not have presenters, pundits or commentary - today's Match of the Day 2 will follow a similarly reduced format.
You can follow live online commentary here.
Here's Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling on the BBC to reconsider its decision to take Gary Lineker off air during this impartiality row.
It would have been perfectly reasonable for Lineker to remain on BBC - Reeves
The BBC is currently dealing with a massive fall out over an impartiality row with its highest paid presenter Gary Lineker.
It started on Tuesday, when the Match of the Day presenter compared the language around the UK's illegal migration policy to "1930s Germany".
Here is a quick timeline, in case you missed it:
How the Match of the Day row played out... in 60 seconds
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Image source, PA MediaFor the government’s part, Jeremy Hunt raised questions about the BBC’s overall approach to impartiality, the duty to play fair across the board, noting the controversy not just about Gary Lineker, but also Richard Sharp’s links to the Tories.
In more practical terms, he promised he’d make a big difference to the cost of childcare at the Budget this week.
But, with the economy still wobbly, Tory backbenchers calling for tax cuts they are not going to get, Labour slamming the government’s long term record, ministers have lot of heavy lifting to do to show they can make a big impression on Wednesday.
Former England footballer Gary Neville has tweeted his views on how the BBC is dealing with the Gary Lineker impartiality row.
The Sky Sports pundit and Labour party supporter tweeted, external that "strong independent leadership" following Lineker's tweet could have included seeking clarification from Lineker or asking him to "be careful in future".
He says the outcome in this case could have been that Lineker clarified the tweet's meaning and the situation could "move on".
But his tweet says a response from "weak and conflicted leadership" after seeing the tweet would be to "see which way wind blows and delay/allow influences to build/panic decision/mess/retract!"
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Here's Peter Salmon, who used to work for the BBC and was once Gary Lineker's boss, saying the presenter has now become a national figure and may have outgrown his job.
Lineker may have outgrown MOTD job - star's old BBC boss
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
The BBC's former director general, Mark Thompson, urged everyone this morning to calm down, after 72 hours of frenzy over Gary Lineker, the broadcaster's highest paid presenter.
He came armed with the BBC’s latest rules, and reckoned in his view that the star’s tweet had probably crossed the line.
But, he said he hoped the presenter would be back on air soon, and that he hoped and believed the current Director General, Tim Davie would survive this row.
He described the mess as an "unhappy accident", but urged the BBC to "ignore the papers", and said he knew Lineker well enough to "believe in his good faith".
Faisal Islam
Economics editor
Pivoting back to the Budget now. The Chancellor confirmed earlier on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that as part of what he calls a “Back to Work” Budget that the childcare element of universal credit will now be paid upfront.
This will affect 700,000 low-income families, who have had to up until now often go into debt in order to pay childcare.
We also expect the cap on this funding will be lifted, after a long freeze.
This is part of a multi-pronged strategy to get the workforce back up to full strength after the pandemic, including changes to disability benefits and pensions rules.
The Bank of England Governor told me last month that this worker shortfall “marks the UK out” in the world economy. It will be a central theme of the Budget on Wednesday.
And the Treasury hope is that the normally cautious Office for Budget Responsibility will increase its forecasts for growth to take into account more workers.
In case you missed it here's what Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had to say when Laura asked him why some Tory MPs get so upset over what Gary Lineker says off air.
Tories are free to speak up about Lineker - Jeremy Hunt
Gary Lineker
The Match of the Day presenter's suspension dominated large parts of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Former director general Mark Thompson said in his opinion Lineker's tweet over the government's migrant policy was a "technical breach" of BBC guidelines. But he hoped that Lineker would return to hosting Match of the Day. Tory MP Simon Clarke said he "profoundly disagreed" with Lineker's comments, but Labour's Nadia Whittome felt Lineker was right to call out the government's bill.
Jeremy Hunt
It is also a big week ahead with the Budget coming on Wednesday and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was in the hot seat to answer questions. He told the show he wanted a low-tax economy but did not commit to cutting any taxes in the Budget. He said that on Wednesday, childcare would be a key focus. Hunt also acknowledged there awere "serious risks" following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank which funds a lot of tech businesses here in the UK. He insisted he and the prime minister were working "at pace" on a plan.
Rachel Reeves
Finally, we heard from Labour's Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who said she was taking inspiration from US President Joe Biden and his Inflation Reduction Act which subsides green industries. She also expressed a commitment to protecting the triple lock on pensions and vowed to have more people owning their own home under a Labour government. On Lineker, she said the BBC had bowed to pressure from Tory MPs.
Former BBC director general Mark Thompson
Marc Ashdown
Business reporter
Away from Lineker, also high on the news agenda this morning is the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The situation is clearly a fast-moving crisis.
Yesterday both the Treasury and the Bank of England sought to reassure the wider banking world that SVB’s troubles were very specific, and should not spread to others.
A day later it appears we are on the verge of an urgent government intervention to help prop up the entire UK tech sector.
The CEOs of 140 tech start-ups wrote to the Treasury overnight starkly outlining their concerns.
These fledgling firms are typically cash-flow poor, so having their money stuck in SVB UK - only able to access up to £85,000 for a single account - runs the risk that they won’t be able to pay their bills - or staff - next week.
Asked if he would guarantee 100% of the deposits at the bank, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told Laura Kuenssberg earlier he’d been working late into the night with the prime minister and governor of the Bank of England to look for solutions “in the short and longer term”.
A plan to “meet the operational cash flow needs” of the companies will be confirmed “within days” he said.
Against the backdrop of a budget which is likely to put the tech and life sciences sectors front and centre of a plan for growth, a longer term solution is essential in order to keep attracting the brightest and best talent to invest in the UK.
The Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme has taken in a huge range of topics today, from next week's Budget to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and of course the Gary Lineker fall-out at the BBC.
In the last few minutes, it has been confirmed that the disruption to the BBC's sport programming will roll into a second day, with Women's Super League coverage and Match of the Day 2 to run without presenters.
On Saturday, Football Focus and Final Score were cancelled as a result of the fallout, and flagship show Match of the Day ran without presenters or commentary.
Here's a clip of former BBC Director General Mark Thompson telling Laura it looked like Gary Lineker's tweet was a technical breach of BBC guidelines but there's a grey area as he's not a news presenter.
On face of it Lineker broke rules on a technicality - ex-BBC boss
Let's bring you some viewing figures which we've just been made aware of from our entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba.
He tweets: "Last night's Match of the Day was watched by 2.58m TV viewers on BBC One.
"Up nearly half a million on last Saturday's figure of 2.09 million according to BARB overnights.
"It's the show's biggest audience since 5 November 2022 when 2.63m watched."