The Scottish government has revealed in its new economic plan that it is no longer committed to a "blanket" three point drop in corporation tax.

The switch in policy is a departure for the SNP which promised to introduce the cut if Scotland became independent.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the change alongside other measures to end economic inequality.
The UK government has insisted its austerity policies are working and have resulted in more Scottish jobs.
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said Ms Sturgeon's economic strategy was "underwhelming" and called for business rates to be reduced.
The first minister told a gathering in Linlithgow that there would now be a focus on "targeted changes in tax allowances."
While corporation tax remains reserved to Westminster, the Scottish government has long argued for it to be devolved to Holyrood.
And its White Paper setting out the case for independence said: "This government plans to set out a timescale for reducing corporation tax by up to three percentage points below the prevailing UK rate."
However, the newly published 84-page economic plan, titled Scotland's Economic Strategy (March 2015) said: "The Scottish government has made clear that we have no intention to engage in a 'race to the bottom'.
"Instead, we will use these powers to create a long-term competitive advantage, not through a blanket approach, but by using targeted changes in tax allowances."
Ms Sturgeon visited the technology firm Calnex, where she outlined the twin-track approach aimed at increasing competitiveness while halting inequality.
She told the gathering that productivity "was the key" to "any sustainable long-term improvement in living standards".
November 2007 - The Scottish government's economic strategy said: "To make Scotland the lowest taxed part of the UK, dropping corporation tax significantly below the UK level."
November 2013 - The Scottish government's White Paper on independence said: "This government plans to set out a timescale for reducing corporation tax by up to three percentage points below the prevailing UK rate."
November 2013 - The Scottish government's Building Security and Creating Opportunity: Economic Policy Choices in an Independent Scotland said: "In 2011, the Scottish government modelled the potential impact of a reduction in corporation tax broadly equivalent to a cut in the headline rate of three percentage points. The results showed this has the potential to increase output by around 1.4% and boost employment by approximately 27,000 jobs."
March 2015 - The Scottish government's economic strategy said:"The Scottish government has made clear that we have no intention to engage in a 'race to the bottom'. Instead, we will use these powers to create a long-term competitive advantage, not through a blanket approach, but by using targeted changes in tax allowances."
Ms Sturgeon explained: "When we published the first Scottish government economic strategy back in 2007, Scotland's productivity then was 6% below that of the rest of the UK.
"The gap with the rest of the UK has reduced significantly since then, but we are still some 13% below Sweden and 20% below Germany. So we need to do much more.
"That is why we want to focus on closing the gap with the very best in Europe and that really matters."
She added that if Scotland increased productivity by 0.1% a year it could:
Ms Sturgeon said that in order for those figures to be realised there was a need to invest in infrastructure and skills, "in contrast to the UK's government deep and and harmful cuts in public spending".
She added that the approach of "promoting equality and competitiveness together is two sides of the same coin - it is in itself innovative, but it is also in tune with a growing international consensus".
Scottish Labour said the first minister was "right to point out appalling inequality in Scotland".
MSP Jackie Baillie said her party had a powerful vision for making Scotland a "better and fairer country".
She added:  "Scottish Labour has a plan to make Scotland the fairest nation on earth.
"We will make work pay for all Scots by calling time on zero hours contracts, using the mansion tax to invest in our NHS and raising the minimum wage for those in work.
"We have also set out how we would close the attainment gap by investing Â£125m to support working class kids who have been left behind by the SNP government in Edinburgh."
Tory MSP Mr Brown said there was no commitment from the government to use new tax powers to lessen the tax burden and "make us more competitive".
He added: "It is also surprising for the first minister to use OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) figures from 2010 to claim UK government policies aren't working.
"Only last week, the head of the OECD praised the 'tremendous progress' made in Britain's economic recovery, and noted the 'remarkable' levels of job creation."
Andy Willox, the Federation of Small Businesses' Scottish policy convenor, said the Scottish government's intentions were "admirable" but needed more detailed work to ensure "improvements on the ground".
STUC general secretary Grahame Smith welcomed the Scottish government's commitment to tackling inequality but said it could have gone further.
Ben Southwood, head of research for the Adam Smith Institute
"We can achieve economic growth and equality in an economic strategy, but we have to be very careful about what measures we use.
"It does seem that the poorer counties in the world are unequal, whereas the richer countries are more unequal. That doesn't necessarily mean that reducing inequality lets you get richer.
"In fact what we tend to see is first you grow very fast, become more unequal, and then you carry on growing and everybody else catches up.
"Redistributing wealth is very important for alleviating poverty but in the long run it has barely lifted anyone out of poverty, compared to the amount economic growth has lifted people out of poverty.
"Economic growth has lifted billions of people around the world out of poverty, redistribution has lifted millions of people out of poverty. Redistribution is important but it isn't nearly as important as growth and we should always be focusing on growth."
Morag Gillespie, a senior research fellow at Glasgow Caledonian University's Women in Scotland's Economy group
"Once you have a level of growth, and the UK and the United States are well past that, then you start to get diminishing returns from simply focusing on growth alone.
"And I absolutely agree with Nicola Sturgeon, I think it is essential that we pursue equality as part of our economic strategy.
"And if you look at some of the richer nations across the world you will see that some of them are much more equal than others and it isn't to do with how long they have been growing, or how much growth they have had, but how much they focus in ensuring that all the people of the country can benefit from economic growth and it isn't just a few people that profit.
"One of the things that we really, really need to tackle in Scotland is that the jobs being created are better paying jobs and that we are not just creating minimum wage jobs, that we don't have more and more people working in really exploitative work situations, such as zero hours contracts, temporary employment, and that we tackle the really high levels we have of under employment."


The world's leading climate scientists are considering a plan to remove carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere in an effort to stem global warming.

Members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting here in Berlin, will shortly publish a key study on how to curb rising temperatures.
One of the techniques they are considering is a little known method called Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (Beccs).
But critics warn that the technology is unproven and could give reluctant countries an excuse not to cut emissions.
The idea of capturing carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and storing it underground has been under discussion for over a decade.
The technology has been aimed at large scale, old school power plants that mainly rely on coal as a fuel source.
The idea is to remove the carbon either before or after combustion and pipe it underground so that the invisible gas can be contained in rock formations without leaking.
While CCS could, in theory, limit the amount of carbon going into the atmosphere, it doesn't do much for the CO2 already there.
Some researchers suggested that if you combined the carbon capture and storage with bio-energy crops and plants, you could begin to remove emissions that have already been accumulated.
A handful of pilot operations have been tested, although the technology is hardly known outside a small group of experts.
"I don't know which fairytale figure it is, it may be Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty," said Henrik Karlsson, from Biorecro, a Swedish company that has been involved in developing a number of Beccs projects.
"But it is facing a long journey to reach a place where this technology catches the interest of the research industry."
That journey may be a little shorter thanks to the interest of the IPCC. At their meeting here in Berlin, scientists and government officials are considering a draft report on the measures that can cut emissions.
The scientists argue that time is running out for mitigation measures such as substituting renewable energy for fossil fuels. Some ideas on how to remove carbon from the atmosphere are now being discussed.
In a leaked copy of their report, even though there is limited evidence, the idea of Beccs gets a cautious endorsement.
"Combining bio-energy and CCS could result in net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere," it says.
One of the pilot studies took place in France at Artenay, where researchers estimated the amount of carbon that could be siphoned off from a sugar beet refinery.
The beet absorbs carbon as it grows and CO2 is produced in a high quality stream as a by-product of the fermentation process.
A scientist who was involved in the Artenay research, Dr Audrey Laude, says the IPCC are right to consider options like Beccs, as she says it is an insurance policy against dangerous levels of warming.
"Without Beccs the modelling doesn't work to keep us under 2 degrees C," she told BBC News.
"We know there will be an over shoot soon and Beccs is necessary because it gives you negative emissions and that is a way of rectifying the overshoot."
But how much impact can a technology like Beccs really have?
Henrik Karlsson says that in a study carried out by his company in Sweden, you could mitigate all the emissions from the transport sector if you used a Beccs system on all the pulp mills in the country. He is delighted that the idea is being considered at the IPCC.
"We are already in such a bad position that we need all possible mitigation options as well as carbon removal from the atmosphere, and that is the big, big breakthrough of this report from the IPCC, that this is established as a fact," he says.
However there is much unease here in Berlin about the merits or otherwise of removing carbon from the atmosphere.
Several countries, including Germany and China, expressed reservations about the use of technologies like Beccs in their written comments on the IPCC draft.
Campaigners, concerned about the use of land to grow crops for energy, are also worried about Beccs.
They believe that to be effective as a means of removing carbon from the air, it would require huge amounts of land.
"To do Beccs on a large scale you need vast areas to grow crops or trees," said Almuth Ernsting from Biofuelwatch.
"What's become clear with the evidence of biofuels is that such large programmes result in massive ecosystem destruction which releases large amounts of carbon and these land conversions has significant impacts on people too."
Ironically, one of the most promising options for developing Beccs is in tandem with the oil and gas industry. The stream of carbon dioxide that can be separated from the crops being burned or processed can be used to help in the recovery of hard to reach oil deposits.
And it is this close association with fossil fuels that presents many campaigners and scientists with a dilemma over the use of Beccs.
"It gives people the sense that we can get away from burning ever more fossil fuels and this is a wonderful way of getting carbon back out of the atmosphere," said Almuth Ernsting.
"Even if it isn't done, it provides some golden solution out there to justify not cutting emissions."
Certainly there are major issues ahead for the idea. There are question marks over the storage of carbon dioxide underground, there are few government incentives and perhaps most damningly for Beccs, there are few academic or industrial groups interested in developing it.
"We are in a classic valley of death for technologies like Beccs," said Dr Laude.
"There are no incentives and too many risks. Everybody is waiting for the next step."
But Henrik Karlsson remains optimistic - he believes that because it is relatively low-tech, cheap and can be used on a wide variety of industries. More importantly he says, we have run out of time to do anything else.
"The emissions situation is really bad - it is not a moral dilemma it is an actual dilemma," he says.
"Beccs is the only technology currently available that can reverse the trend of emissions in the atmosphere - it makes it a moral obligation to deploy it as soon as possible."
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An abandoned dog with a potentially life-limiting heart condition is a "special dog" who deserves a forever home, say staff at a Conwy county animal sanctuary.

German Shepherd Orion arrived at the RSPCA's Bryn-y-Maen centre in Colwyn Bay in January.
But a check-up discovered a surprise heart murmur,  and she may need costly treatment in the future.
Staff say they were "devastated" by the news.
Orion was found abandoned in the Anglesey area in January along with another German Shepherd Sirius, who has since been re-homed.
The RSPCA said they are struggling to find a home for Orion because of her potentially costly vets bills.
Mel Kermode, the centre's deputy manager, said: "We can't tell whether her condition will or won't develop in the future.
"She could potentially live for years but it would be wrong if weren't honest with people about her condition.
"It takes a special person to take that on, but then she is a very special dog."


Shares of yoga wear maker Lululemon Athletica jumped over 8% in after-hours trading after the Canadian firm raised its revenue forecast on strong holiday sales.

The firm's new forecast was a small improvement on previous guidance but it marks a swift upturn in its fortunes.
Just last month the company cut its full-year earnings forecast and warned about profit margins.
In 2013 it had to recall its yoga leggings for being too revealing.
The controversy over its yoga kit hurt its image and undermined the company's share price.
Its new forecast for the three months to January was raised up to $695m (Â£477m), from an initial estimate of up to $685m.
Its New York listed shares rose as much as 8.7% on Monday in extended trading after the company announced that it holiday season sales had exceeded expectations.
"We had a very successful holiday season driven by strong execution in stores and online during the key holiday weeks," chief executive Laurent Potdevin said in a statement.
The Vancouver-based company competes with the likes of Nike and Under Armour in the fashion and exercise market, which has grown rapidly thanks to people increasingly wearing their  sportswear outside of the gym.


Ministers are creating a "perception" that human rights are not a priority for the government, MPs say.

The Foreign Affairs Committee said the government gave the impression of prioritising trade and security with China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
This was despite a doubling in funding for the Foreign Office's dedicated human rights project.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said improving human rights was a "core function of the Foreign Office".
But the committee's chairman, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, said: "The actions and words of ministers in the Foreign Office have undermined the excellent human rights work carried out by the department.
"This needs to be remedied."
Giving evidence to the committee in October, Sir Simon McDonald, the Foreign Office's most senior civil servant, said human rights was "not one of our top priorities".
This was strongly rejected by ministers, but the committee said written evidence it received suggested there was "plainly a perception that this has occurred".
The committee welcomed the doubling of funding for the department's human rights programme, called the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, to Â£10.6m.
But it said the decision to restrict the fund to registered organisations "acts against an intelligent deployment of resources".
The MPs criticised remarks by Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood, who told the committee he could not remember whether he had raised human rights during a visit to Egypt with a business delegation.
"We are disappointed by the parliamentary under-secretary of state's choice of language on this occasion and others, which raises questions about how energetically the government is raising human rights issues," the MPs said.
And they said the Foreign Office had failed to send an "important message" by not including Egypt and Bahrain on a list of "Human Rights Priority Countries", saying this "contributes to the perception that the [Foreign Office] has become more hesitant in promoting and defending international human rights openly and robustly, notwithstanding the importance of private diplomacy".
The department should be "more mindful of the perceptions it creates at ministerial level" in its dealings with China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the report said, because "perceptions and symbols matter."
It also said the the department's failure to fly the rainbow flag - an international symbol of equality - for the London Pride event in 2015 "sent a message that contradicts much of the actual work and objectives" of the department.
And it suggested the Foreign Office's human rights work should be presented in a more "user-friendly fashion" so it can be evaluated more easily.
Mr Hammond said: "I do not recognise this characterisation of our human rights work."
The UK supports over 75 human rights projects in more than 40 countries, he said, adding that the doubling of funding for the projects was "a true measure of the importance we attach to this agenda".
He added: "By mainstreaming human rights within the Foreign Office, we have ensured it will always be a central part of our diplomacy, delivering tangible results."


Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini says he is willing to give Mario Balotelli another chance but the striker needs to "deserve it".

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Balotelli this week dropped tribunal action against City, who had given him a two-week fine for missing 12 games last season because of suspensions.
When asked if Balotelli would be given another opportunity, Mancini said: "Sure. I am his manager and, like the other players, if he deserves another chance I'll give him another chance. But Mario now needs to deserve this."
The hearing between the player and his representatives and the Premier League champions had been due to take place on Wednesday, but the issue was resolved following "amicable" talks on Tuesday night.
And Mancini believes the Italy international, 22, who will miss Saturday's match against Reading through illness, made the correct decision not to pursue his action against the club.
"This is an old situation and it is normal when someone does a mistake he should take his responsibilities and Mario did this. It's normal," added the 48-year-old manager.
"He [should] respect himself, not me, because it's important for him to respect himself, very important."
City began the disciplinary process after Balotelli was sent off against Arsenal in April 2012.
In total, he received nine yellow cards and three reds - one of them retrospective - during the season.
Last Saturday, Balotelli was left out of the squad that defeated Newcastle 3-1 at St James' Park.
After the match, Mancini revealed the striker was "not in good form" and that was the only reason he had been excluded.


The NHS needs nurses to be better trained in dealing with sickle cell disease, a union has warned.

The Royal College of Nursing described a poor level of awareness and knowledge in accident and emergency units about the potentially fatal disease.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the name for a group of inherited conditions that affect the red blood cells - the worst of which is sickle cell anaemia.
It affects about 15,000 adults and children in the UK.
The union will discuss the issue at its annual Congress in Glasgow on Saturday, 18 June.
The disease can cause episodes of severe pain known as "crises", which will kill if not treated correctly.
Despite a higher profile, there are about 5,000 fewer UK patients with cystic fibrosis than with sickle cell.
Sickle cell adult specialist nurse Carey Johnson, who submitted the item to the union's annual Congress, said: "There are some really good specialist services in pockets around the country, but too many people have to rely on general hospitals and A&E, where there is a very poor level of awareness.
"Two things would make a huge difference to the thousands of people with sickle cell disease.
"First, provide more specialist services, and, secondly, provide health care staff with better training about the condition."
Throughout his childhood, Stefan Taylor, 21, of east London, went into hospital on a monthly basis for blood transfusions.
And he would often have to stay in hospital for up to three weeks during severe painful episodes caused by the condition.
He said: "Growing up with sickle cell disease was really hard.
"It affected my personal life because a lot of my friends didn't understand the disease and didn't realise why I often couldn't socialise.
"Hospitals make you better physically, but emotionally they make you worse.
"Some people think you're addicted to painkillers because you ask for them first thing in the morning.
"It's very distressing, very upsetting.
"It's hard to keep calm when you're in so much pain."
He also said the specialist units for SCD were "brilliant" but there were only a small number of beds, and the system needed more funding.
The Royal College of Nursing also cited a survey carried out in December 2015 by the charity Picker Institute Europe, which asked patients if they thought healthcare staff had a competent knowledge of SCD.
Only 45% of the 229 recipients, who had all received urgent or emergency care within the previous six months, said they felt nurses had a good knowledge and understanding of the condition.
Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Nurses are clearly saying that there is not enough training for healthcare staff working in general settings on sickle cell disease.
"People who are already suffering a great deal of pain need the very best, and most informed care.
"The solution to this is very simple: better training and better awareness both amongst health care staff and the public."
An NHS England official said: "Sickle cell disease can be an extremely debilitating and distressing condition which is why NHS England is committed to providing patients with the highest standards of treatment, care and support.
"Whilst specialist services are central to this, ensuring that local services can respond to the needs of people with sickle cell disease is also vitally important and we welcome all efforts at awareness raising amongst patients and families and all the relevant services that care for them."
Source: NHS Choices


French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has launched his presidential campaign with a plan to tackle terrorism by forcing internet firms to release encrypted messages.

Election campaigning officially began on Monday, two weeks ahead of the first round of voting.
Opinion polls predict Mr Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen will reach the second round on 7 May.
Ms Le Pen will set out her security priorities later in the day.
One new poll has put hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon into third place, ahead of the centre-right's Francois Fillon, who has been embroiled in corruption allegations.
Mr Melenchon is thought to have been buoyed by two televised debates which saw him get tough on Ms Le Pen.
Eleven candidates will compete in the first round on 23 April.
Speaking at his Paris launch, Mr Macron said he wants to legally compel social media companies to give authorities access to encrypted messages between terror suspects.
"Democratic states must have access to content exchanged between terrorists on social media and instant messaging," he said, while introducing a five-point strategy that would bring in new powers across Europe.
He said it was "no longer acceptable" for companies to insist that they have a contractual obligation to clients after offering protected communication.
He cited Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter as those he wants to have frank discussions with.
Mr Macron, a former investment banker, is running for his self-created En Marche (Onwards) party.
Ms Le Pen, who heads the National Front party created by her father, was heavily criticised at the weekend for saying France was not responsible for rounding up Jews to send them to Nazi death camps during the World War Two.
During a television interview on Sunday, she was speaking specifically about 13,000 Jews who were gathered at at the Vel d'Hiv cycling track in Paris in 1942, on Nazi orders.
Ms Le Pen has since expressed her condemnation for the French government at the time of the "vile round-up".
"I consider that France and the Republic were in London during the occupation and that the Vichy regime was not France," she said.
However late on Sunday, Ms Le Pen issued a statement saying her stance "in no way exonerates the effective and personal responsibility of the French people who took part in the horrible Vel d'Hiv roundup and in all the atrocities committed during this period".


What do members of the House of Lords get up to at eleven o'clock of an evening?

The answer, as you probably guessed, involves debating the Wales Bill, with Monday's committee stage ending at 11:12pm.
The Lords don't, by tradition, have votes during committee stages. Instead, amendments are introduced, moved and debated before being withdrawn after peers have had the chance to find out if ministers might change their mind later during the legislative process - or whether there is such a groundswell of support to change the Bill that the government might be defeated.
Peers spent an hour of that time debating whether a referendum should be held before the Welsh Government gets the power to vary income tax rates.
The law, as it now stands, says there should be a plebiscite but the Wales Bill scraps that requirement, much to the annoyance of Welsh Labour grandees Lords Hain, Murphy and Kinnock.
The debate, perhaps inevitably, featured reflections, prompted by recent experience, on the recent nature of referendums. Lord Kinnock spoke of his own bruises and scars from the Brexit vote, but argued referendums were justifiable in a parliamentary democracy "when there is a proposal to change the way in which we are governed".
He argued that the proposal to give Wales tax-varying powers was made "in the absolutely certain and cynical knowledge that it would not be exercised" and that there "was and is no evident support among the public for the idea of income tax-raising or income tax-varying powers to be allocated to the Welsh Assembly".
Wales Office Minister Lord Bourne disagreed, telling peers: "I strongly and sincerely believe that if we were to have a referendum, it would be carried".
Former Labour MP Lord Howarth of Newport, suggested the Conservatives were "sliding away" from a clear manifesto commitment to only devolve tax powers after a referendum.
The Welsh Conservative manifesto referred to the issue in a passage on what politicians call "fair funding". It said:  "We will do this by putting in place a floor in the level of relative Welsh Government funding in the expectation that the Welsh Government will hold a referendum on income tax raising powers.
"We will bring greater financial accountability to the Welsh Assembly by ensuring that the Welsh Government becomes responsible for raising more of the money it spends."
Whether the UK government is sliding away from that or not, Labour and Liberal Democrat frontbenchers support the scrapping of a referendum requirement and this part of the Bill looks unlikely to change.
Their lordships moved on (eventually) to discuss the list of powers to be kept at Westminster. Lord Bourne politely agreed to look at them.
Former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Wigley tabled an amendment designed to ensure the Welsh Government can continue to support the Welsh language and culture in Patagonia.
Labour peer (and historian) Lord Morgan reflected that "the Welsh community in Chubut rather benefited from the Falklands War because the Argentine government were rather anxious to show that they were solicitous of the needs of cultural minorities in their country".
Lord Bourne said the Wales Bill would already allow the Welsh Government to continue its support.
You can read part one of the debate here and part two here. Peers return to the subject on Wednesday, November 16.


A doctor who was convicted of the manslaughter by gross negligence of a six-year-old boy has failed in her bid for an appeal.

Hadiza Bawa-Garba, 40, was convicted of Jack Adcock's manslaughter at Nottingham Crown Court last November.
Jack, who had a heart condition, died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 2011 hours after being admitted with sickness and vomiting.
She was seeking the right to appeal against her conviction.
Updates on this story and more from Leicestershire
The doctor was given a two-year sentence, suspended for two years.
Counsel for Bawa-Garba argued before three senior judges in London that her trial was unfair because the judge misdirected the jury.
But Sir Brian Leveson ruled: "We have come to clear conclusion that none of the grounds of appeal are, in fact, arguable".
He ruled the trial judge's directions to the jury could not be faulted and refused permission for a full appeal.
Jack's parents, Nicky and Vic, who live in Glen Parva, Leicester, were not in court to hear the decision.


UK industry fell back into recession as it shrank for the second quarter in a row, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It is the third time UK industry has been in recession in eight years.
Although industrial production rose 0.3% from February to March, it fell 0.4% both in the first three months of 2016 and in the last three of 2015.
Compared with a year ago, manufacturing production in the first quarter fell 1.9%, the biggest fall since 2013.
The biggest fall in output came from the  basic iron and steel sector which saw production drop in March by 37.3% percent compared with a year earlier.
However, the oil and gas industries saw sharp gains, increasing production 17% in February, and 10.9% in March from the same months a year earlier.
Manufacturing and construction is proving to be a drag on the whole economy, helping slow UK economic growth from 0.6% in the last three months of 2015 to  0.4% between January and March, according to the ONS.
Earlier this month a survey by Markit/CIPS also showed manufacturing contracting. Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit said: "The goods-producing sector therefore looks to be on course to act as a drag on the economy again in the second quarter, contributing to a slowing in economic growth to near-stagnation.
"Growth could be even weaker if the surveys disappoint in coming month, which seems probable given the intensifying uncertainty over the outcome of the EU referendum."
Despite this, economist Ruth Miller from Capital Economics is optimistic for the rest of the year.
She said: "We still expect things to look up as the year progresses. Sterling's recent depreciation and our expectations that global growth will pick up slightly in 2016 should allow the sector to return to modest growth later this year."


Jordan Spieth feels he is being unfairly criticised after failing to replicate his successes of 2015.

The American, 22, won the Masters and US Open, missed out by one shot on a play-off at The Open and finished second in the US PGA Championship.
Spieth has won twice in 2016 but blew a five-shot lead at the Masters in April.
"Most of the questions are comparing to last year and that's unfair because that's happened less than a dozen times to anybody in golf," he said.
"I would appreciate if people would look at the positives over comparing to maybe what would hopefully happen to me a few times in my career, a year like last year.
"So it seems a bit unfair, at 22, to be expecting something like that all the time."
Spieth made four birdies in the first seven holes at The Open on Saturday but dropped five strokes in seven holes as he finished five over for the tournament after three rounds.


A woman and her one-year-old baby were trapped in their home by a fire sparked by a candle that had not been properly blown out.

The pair were asleep in Manor Road, Colchester, when the woman was woken by the sound of the fire on the stairs.
They were rescued from an upstairs bedroom by firefighters and were both unharmed.
Acting station officer Ian Ryder said:"This fire could have had dire consequences."
The candle was in a scented oil burner which had not been properly extinguished when the woman went to bed, the fire service said.
Mr Ryder added: "As this oil burner was on the stairs it completely cut off their escape route.
"This is the third fire in Colchester we have been to in the last fortnight which was started by a candle.
"Make sure you use them safely and always put them properly out before you go to bed."


Two men who kicked and punched a man outside a chip ship before stealing from his pockets have been jailed.

Edward Wood, 50, was injured near the Oceans Eleven takeaway on Railway Road in Leigh, Greater Manchester on 4 May and later died.
Kevin Darbyshire, 33, of Findlay Street, and Dwayne Turner, 28, of Railway Road, pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Liverpool Crown Court.
They were sentenced to 10 and nine years respectively.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Darbyshire kicked Mr Wood once to the head, and Turner punched him once under the chin as he sat in a doorway before they both stole items from him.
Mr Wood was "highly vulnerable" as he was sitting on the floor in a drunken state, David Graham, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said.
"They accused him of spitting at them, before each delivering one violent blow to his head and face."
Darbyshire had a community order revoked after a separate incident so three years were added to his sentence.
That three-year term will run concurrently to his 10-year sentence.


A fund which supports more than 21,000 people with severe disabilities is to be phased out by 2015.

The ??359m Independent Living Fund pays out an average of ??300 a week, to help people pay for carers so they can live at home and not in a care home.
It was already shut to new applicants for this year and will now shut to new claims permanently, said the minister for disabled people, Maria Miller.
Payments to existing users are to continue until 2015.
Ms Miller said: "An independent discretionary trust delivering social care is financially unsustainable."
But Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said the decision to phase out the fund was "bemusing".
"The fund is comparatively very small and is designed to support disabled people to live at home rather than in care homes," he said.
"It's hard to see how phasing out this fund will do anything but narrow down options and push people towards greater dependence on the state."
The phased closure was described as "foolhardy and lacking in humanity" by Labour peer Lord Morris of Manchester.
Lord Morris, who was the first minister for the disabled, said: "This will not save money. If you make it harder for disabled people to live at home, it will cost more because more of them will have to be in hospitals and other places of full-time care.
"It will mean far more of them having to be in institutional care at far greater cost to the taxpayer."
The government said local authorities had a statutory responsibility to provide social care support to their residents.
And it said it remained its priority to safeguard the position of the recipients of the fund.
It said it would carry out a formal consultation next year on how best to continue to support existing users.


Three top Libyan figures are wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Along with Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam, and brother-in-law, Abdullah al-Sanussi, head of Libya's intelligence services, are accused.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi - the second of Col Gaddafi's nine children - has had a far more prominent role in the Libyan political scene than his brothers or sisters.
Well-educated and a fluent English speaker, Saif al-Islam was previously viewed by the West as the reform-minded face of the Gaddafi regime.
The 38-year-old holds an MBA from Vienna University and in 2008, received a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE).
He also runs the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation.
Some saw him as his father's most-likely successor, a suggestion he played down.
He owns a house in London and has had links to British political figures as well as the royal family. He has met the Duke of York many times and is said to have visited both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
But his ties to Britain went under the microscope after the crackdown on Libya's protests when they broke out in February.
In March, LSE director Howard Davies resigned from his post after facing criticism for accepting donations from Saif al-Islam's foundation.
The university is also investigating the authenticity of Saif al-Islam's PhD thesis, which focused on good governance and civil society.
Despite his musings on democracy, Saif al-Islam appears to have sided with his father over the need to quash protests in Libya and the armed rebel groups which have emerged from them.
Shortly after the uprising began, he described protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi as "drunkards and thugs" and warned of civil war.
Full Profile: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, who is married to the sister of Col Gaddafi's wife, is one of the veteran leader's most trusted aides.
A prominent figure in Libya, Brig Gen Sanussi held various roles during Gaddafi's tenure, including deputy chief of the external security organisation.
He is also said to be a close adviser to Saif al-Islam, according to leaked US embassy documents.
He has been accused in the past of human rights abuses, including his implication in the massacre in 1996 of more than 1,000 inmates at the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli.
He has been unable to travel abroad since he was convicted in absentia in 1999 by France for his role in the bombing of a French UTA passenger plane in 1989.
The plane blew up over the West African country of Niger, killing 170 people.
He was already on a US treasury department blacklist of senior Libyan officials whose assets can be frozen if they are found inside US jurisdiction.
He is also said to have extensive business interests, like other members of Libya's political elite.
Since the Libyan revolt broke out, Brig Gen Sanussi has been accused of ordering the killing of protesters and recruiting foreign mercenaries fighting for Col Gaddafi.
Some media reports initially suggested he was planning to defect, joining the former foreign minister Moussa Koussa, but the claims were soon denied.


The owners of a Caerphilly pub have been fined almost £100,000 after a staff member was burnt on a faulty cooking range.

The worker was hurt when there was a "flash over" from the gas range at the Angel Inn, White Cross Lane, in July 2015.
Pub chain Enterprise Inns Plc admitted failing to ensure the equipment was safe and without risk to health.
It was fined £95,000, with costs of £15,860, at Newport Magistrates' Court.
Details of the hearing, which took place on 16 August, were revealed by Caerphilly council on Thursday, on the back of an investigation by the authority's environmental health team.
The council's cabinet member for community services, Nigel George, said: "We take all cases of accidents reported to the council very seriously and investigate them thoroughly.
"This was a serious incident involving a person becoming injured as a result of a faulty gas appliance and I am pleased that the court has reflected this in the fine".


Burnley could welcome back Michael Keane, who has missed their last two games because of a calf injury.

Fellow centre-back Ben Mee is again set to miss out with a shin problem.
West Ham are without centre-back Winston Reid, who has undergone surgery to treat a knee injury, so 18-year-old Declan Rice may deputise.
Fellow defender Angelo Ogbonna, who returned to the match-day squad last weekend after three months out, is also available but lacks match fitness.
The Hammers' lengthy injury list also includes Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyate, Andy Carroll, Michail Antonio, Pedro Obiang, Diafra Sakho and Arthur Masuaku.
Alistair Man: "There is little doubt which of these sides has achieved their pre-season target.
"Having booked a second successive campaign amongst the game's elite for the first time since the 1970s, the mood at Turf Moor will rightly be jubilant.
"An impressive 11th home win in front of their own supporters could see Burnley finish as high as 11th, leapfrogging West Ham in the process.
"Even a victory won't propel the Hammers into the top half of the table - a position which seemed a minimum expectation after their seventh-place finish a year ago.
"Messrs Dyche and Bilic are certain to feel contrasting emotions as they reflect upon the rigours of the last 12 months."
Twitter:@alistairmann01
Burnley manager Sean Dyche on interest in defender Michael Keane: "We're not under any financial pressure that's for sure. The club's in amazing shape.
"Although the market is tough for us going outside to bring players in, it's very strong for us if people want to come and take our players."
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: "[It has been a] very difficult season for us and the teams around us. We plan to do better but considering everything we have achieved the minimum goal and I have to praise the players for that.
"We have had our ups and downs, bad moments at the beginning of the season [and in] March, when we lost five games. Basically every time we have been one game away from trouble we have reacted well."
West Ham are not a bad side when everyone is fit but, if they want a repeat of their seventh-place finish in 2015-16, they definitely need to sign some better players.
Burnley's target this season was to stay up and they have done it. It is mission accomplished and they can build again, which is great.
Prediction 2-0
Lawro's full predictions v rock band Royal Blood
Head-to-head
Burnley
West Ham United


Residents fear their homes are under threat of flooding due to building work on a Pembrokeshire village flood plain.

Homeowners in St Dogmaels claim a small housing development is being built on a higher level than planning permitted.
They said the River Teifi would now flood towards their homes in severe weather and have called for the council to take action.
A Pembrokeshire council spokesman said the developer had accepted remedial works need to be carried out.
Residents set up St Dogmaels Environmental Action Group to work "constructively" with relevant agencies after serious flooding last November but feel more needs to be done.
Chairwoman Lenka Janiurek, 56, said the situation had become "much worse" since work began on the development, with people's homes and gardens flooded with water and sewage.
Member Jake Elster-Jones, 43, said: "We are sitting here waiting for the rain, wondering what's going to happen.
"It's clearly a very serious issue and there is good evidence that when it rains, it will be worse flooding than there's been before."
He added: "We are angry and worried about this and feel something needs to be done about it."
A Pembrokeshire council spokesman confirmed ground levels on the flood plain have been raised above the levels shown in the site's original plans.
The spokesman said a representative for the developer had accepted "remedial works were necessary" and the council was "awaiting written conformation" of a course of action.
Bell Designs, the developer's agent, declined to comment.


The family of a Dundee-born scientist who died in Antarctica said they were "immensely proud" of his achievements.

Dr Gordon Hamilton, 50, was killed after his snowmobile plunged 100ft (30.48m) into a crevasse on Saturday.
His body was later recovered and the US Antarctic Program has launched an investigation into his death.
Dr Hamilton's family, including his wife Fiona and children Martin and Calum, said in a statement they were "devastated" by his death.
Dr Hamilton was a University of Maine professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, and a researcher with the Climate Change Institute.
He was part of a team camped in a heavily crevassed area known as the Shear Zone, around 25 miles (40.23 km) south of McMurdo Station, the largest of the three US research stations in Antarctica.
Dr Hamilton's family said his interest in geography developed while attending Dundee's Harris Academy.
After leaving school, he attended Aberdeen University and gained a PhD from Cambridge University.
His family said: "During this time he had his first experiences of polar exploration that went on to form such an important part of his life and career.
"Although Gordon had worked abroad in Norway and the USA for more than 20 years, he maintained a love of Scotland, always eager to find out the Dundee FC score or to hear how the Scotland rugby team was getting on."
Dr Hamilton visited Scotland in July to celebrate his 50th birthday.
His family said he visited the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail in Dundee and saw a concert in Stornaway by Runrig, a band he had followed since his schooldays.
The statement said: "His wife Fiona, children Martin and Calum in America, Gordon's family in the UK and friends throughout the world are all devastated at his death.
"However, they are immensely proud of all that he achieved in his life."
Colleagues also paid tribute to the scientist following the tragedy.
Paul Mayewski, director of the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute, said: "You knew that if Gordon came into the tent, that things were going to be fun and pleasant.
"They were repeating an activity that they'd done many times before, but it's a dangerous area and accidents happen. That's exactly what this was."
Dr Hamilton spent much of his time in Greenland and Antarctica studying the movement and melting of glaciers and its effect on rising sea levels.
The National Science Foundation, which was funding Dr Hamilton's research, is arranging the return of his body to the United States.
Kelly K Falkner, director of the division's polar programs, said: "The death of one of our colleagues is a tragic reminder of the risks we all face, no matter how hard we work at mitigating those risks, in field research."


The image of Alexander Litvinenko defiant but dying from radioactive poisoning in a London hospital bed is how the world remembers the former Russian intelligence officer.

But that is not the way his widow, Marina, and son, Anatoly, 21, want to remember him.
The photos they spread across a kitchen table tell the story of Mr Litvinenko's life, not his death.
There is a picture of him aged 17 in military uniform. He became part of the security apparatus - what was the KGB and, after the end of the Soviet Union, the FSB.
Another picture shows him sitting astride a tank - a man who fought for his country.
Alexander Litvinenko: Profile of murdered Russian spy
A deadly trail of polonium
But there is also an image from a press conference in which he spoke out about corruption in the FSB.
He went to see the FSB's newly-appointed director to complain, hoping he would act. But, instead, Mr Litvinenko was cast out. The director's name was Vladimir Putin.
Alongside the pictures of his work, are those of his personal life - holding his newborn son, teaching Anatoly to swim on his back, and playing with him on a sofa. Anatoly looks away from these.
"I try not to think too much about my early childhood," he says. "It is easier that way."
Soon after speaking out over corruption, Mr Litvinenko made the decision to flee Russia for his and his family's safety.
He arrived in London and eventually became a British citizen, in 2006.
Within weeks of that event, he would be poisoned.
The 10-year journey to the inquiry - which found that his murder was "probably" approved by President Putin - was tortuous.
An inquest began but then hit a brick wall when the government said much of the information it held was classified and could not be revealed in public.
The only solution, said Sir Robert Owen, the judge sitting as coroner, was to hold a public inquiry.
The government resisted that option, but Marina Litvinenko continued to fight through the courts.
Eventually, the Home Office relented, a decision many saw as the result of a downturn in relations with Russia.
Anatoly had little understanding of his father's work when he was a child, and it was only the inquiry that helped him understand the extent to which Mr Litvinenko had remained involved in the world of security and intelligence.
This included working for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.
The inquiry revealed how Mr Litvinenko was receiving regular payments for consultancy work and had a case officer - known as Martin - he met regularly.
The details of the poisoning itself have long been known, although fresh information did emerge which linked Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun to multiple attempts to kill Mr Litvinenko.
Those two men have denied any role and Russia says it cannot extradite them to face charges.
One key conclusion that Sir Robert announced in his report following the inquiry was that there was "undoubtedly" a personal animosity between Mr Putin and Mr Litvinenko.
Mr Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb says: "They disliked each other immensely, because Litvinenko complained about corruptionâ€¦ and Putin shelved his report,"
"And Putin considered Litvinenko, after the fact, a traitor for going public with his allegations."
However, the specific trigger for the killing remains a subject of speculation.
Mr Litvinenko had been vociferous and outspoken in his accusations about the Kremlin from London - co-writing a book accusing the Russian security services of bombing Moscow apartments to justify a war in Chechnya.
But it may well have been his work investigating specific individuals in the Kremlin and their ties to the mafia that prompted his killing.
He had already helped Spanish prosecutors arrest a number of individuals and was due to travel out to give further evidence when he was poisoned.
One of the people he had told about that work, and was due to travel to Spain with, was Andrei Lugovoi.
The issue of state responsibility has ramifications beyond the Litvinenko case.
An inquest is due to start in Surrey in the coming months into the death of Alexander Perepilichnyy.
He had come to Britain with information of corruption inside the Russian state.
It is not yet clear whether he was murdered, but Bill Browder, whose own lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was killed in Russia, believes he was.
"Anything that potentially exposes money that the government crime figures are collecting puts the person who exposes that money at a risk of being killed," Mr Browder says.
He says not enough has been done in the wake of the Litvinenko killing.
"If the Russian government sends assassins to the United Kingdom to kill people and there are no consequences, it basically gives them a green light to keep on killing people," he says.
Mr Browder says the UK and EU should  "at a minimum" impose individual sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans on people in the Russian government shown to have any responsibility for the Litvinenko killing.
British diplomats involved in the Litvinenko case accept the measures taken at the time may not have been strong enough to deter Russia (these included the expulsion of diplomats and the suspension of intelligence cooperation, which was of relatively small importance anyway).
But the signs are the British state may not be keen at this moment to further escalate tensions with Russia, particularly because of Moscow's role in the Middle East and the Syria crisis.
Marina and Anatoly Litvinenko are aware the political context around the inquiry has changed and may shape the response.
They also recognise the report may be a milestone but might not not end their struggle.
"It is important, but it is not necessarily the end," says Marina.
And Anatoly says: "I feel a sense of duty.
"My father did a hell of a lot to get me to this country to make sure I was safe.
"I need to respect that and do whatever I can to honour his memory.
"Finding the truth is the closest we can get to justice for my father."


There are about 2.5 million gays in India of whom 7% are HIV-positive, according to figures submitted by the government to the Supreme Court.

Earlier this month the court had asked for the numbers during a hearing on the decriminalisation of gay sex in India.
A 2009 Delhi High Court ruling that decriminalised same-sex relationships is being challenged.
Many political, social and religious groups want the 19th Century colonial-era law reinstated.
The figures filed by the Ministry of Health were compiled by India's National Aids Control Programme.
The Aids programme has already reached 200,000 men in same-sex relationships and the hope is to raise that number to 400,000.
The prevalence of HIV in the group is 6.54%-7.23%.
But overall, the number of HIV-infected people in India is just 0.2% of the population as the country's Aids control programme has been successful in reducing the number of new infections.
Last month, the Supreme Court criticised the government for its shifting stand on the issue of decriminalising gay sex.
This was after a senior government lawyer, PP Malhotra, told the court that homosexuality was unnatural and immoral.
Within hours, the home ministry disowned the lawyer's statement and said he had read from an out-of-date file.
The health ministry then stated that it supported the 2009 Delhi High Court order decriminalising gay sex.
Judges GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyaya criticised the government for not doing its "homework" on the case and ordered the government to provide a count of the country's homosexual population for the next hearing.
"You should have done your homework before coming to the court," they told an official.
The 2009 ruling decriminalising gay sex was welcomed by India's gay community, which said the judgement would help protect them from harassment and persecution.
Many people in India still regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate, but rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights.
Section 377 of the colonial Indian Penal Code defined homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal.
But the Delhi High Court said the law was discriminatory and gay sex between consenting adults should not be treated as a crime. Until the high court ruling, homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison term.


Software that helps Prof Stephen Hawking to speak via a computer has been published online by Intel, the company that created it.

The program interprets visual signals and translates them into words, which are then "spoken" by a machine.
Intel originally developed the technology specially for Prof Hawking, but it has been used by other sufferers of motor neurone disease (MND).
Anyone is now able to download and experiment with the system.
In the case of Prof Hawking, the Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit (ACAT) interprets sensor data capturing movements in his cheek muscles but other parts of the body may be used.
Intel hopes that ACAT, which runs on Microsoft Windows 7 or higher, will be used by researchers developing new interfaces for sufferers of diseases like ALS.
The programme and full source code have been published on code-sharing site GitHub.
Intel told the BBC that the software can carry out various functions besides sending text to a speech synthesizer.
"We have contextual menus to access all different parts of your computer," said Lama Nachman, principal engineer. "If you want to use Word, surf the web or speak you can use ACAT for that."
She added that the team had already experimented with a variety of different sensors, and they are hoping developers will try out other options appropriate to each patient's needs and abilities.
"We also have an accelerometer [motion] sensor for patients who can use a finger but not much more, and a button system for someone who can push a button," she said.
The UK's MND Association has praised the move.
"Helping maintain communication for someone with MND could be as simple as using a pen and paper. But as the disease progresses people often lose the use of their hands too," said Karen Pearce, Director of Care for the MND Association.
"That's when cutting edge Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC, aids can help but it's vital speech and language therapists look at the best options for families.
"It will be exciting to see how this open source approach works."
Euan MacDonald, an MND sufferer who runs a disabled access reviews website called Euan's Guide , said, "AAC is an absolutely fundamental part of my life. Unlike medical research, technology is moving very quickly and it's exciting to see new things emerge every year.
"The more that technology can help us express what we are thinking, the better," he added.


Ji So-Yun helped Chelsea Ladies to their first major trophy as they beat Notts County in the first Women's FA Cup final ever to be played at Wembley.

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South Korea striker Ji scored from close range in the first half, in front of a record final crowd of 30,710.
Leanne Crichton had Notts' best effort cleared off the line by Chelsea forward Gemma Davison after the break.
England striker Eniola Aluko created the winner and was outstanding in a deserved win for the Blues.
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Chelsea captain Katie Chapman has now won the cup nine times in her career, having previously lifted the trophy with Millwall, Fulham, Charlton and Arsenal.
Emma Hayes' side, who came into the final off the back of two consecutive league defeats, were beaten on penalties by Birmingham in their only previous Women's FA Cup final appearance in 2012.
Notts, captained by England defender Laura Bassett, were appearing in the final for the first time.
After a relatively tentative start from both teams, Aluko brought Chelsea to life towards the end of the first half with a superb 10-minute spell.
She had the first real chance of the game on the half-hour when she latched onto Davison's ball forward and touched it past goalkeeper Carly Telford, but the angle was too tight for her to apply the finish.
Aluko saw another effort palmed away by Telford and then crossed brilliantly for Davison, who volleyed wide across goal from the back post, before being involved again for Chelsea's goal.
Aluko showed good skill to find Ji in the box, who poked in despite pressure from Telford to net her 15th goal for Chelsea.
Notts County threatened for the first time after the break, with Desiree Scott's long-range effort deflected wide and Crichton's header cleared off the line from the resulting corner.
At the other end, Davison found Aluko in space for Chelsea, but her low, bouncing shot was well saved by Telford, before defender Gilly Flaherty flicked over from three yards out.
Drew Spence lashed a shot wide as Chelsea looked for a second, but in the end one goal was all they needed to finally bring their wait for a trophy to an end.
Chelsea Ladies: Lindahl, Blundell, Flaherty, Fahey, Rafferty, Chapman, Bright, Spence, Davison, Ji, Aluko.
Subs: Hourihan, Borges, Coombs, Brett, Banusic.
Notts County Ladies: Telford, Greenwood, Buet, Clarke, Williams, White, Scott, Walton, Turner, Crichton, Bassett.
Subs: Susi, O'Sullivan, Plumptre, Whelan, O'Neill.


A man has been taken to hospital after being stabbed on a train.

The British Transport Police said they were called to Hamilton West railway station, at 17:30.
When they arrived they found a man who had stab wounds to his legs. He was taken to hospital where his condition has been described as stable.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact British Transport Police.


This is a rollback, not a reversal, of Obama's Cuba policy.

In the main, it is a gift to the old guard Cuban Americans in Miami who opposed the detente and voted for Trump.
So it bans financial transactions with the commercial arm of Cuba's military. But it also takes into account objections from US businesses that don't want to turn the clock back.
Thus, it does not "disrupt" existing joint ventures and carves out other exceptions. Probably the most visible effect will be a slowdown of American visitors, who took advantage of looser travel rules that Trump says he'll now strictly enforce.
Here are some takeaways:
President Trump framed his policy in the human rights concerns of his Miami constituency, which passionately opposes the Cuban government's ongoing repression of political freedoms.
And it bears the stamp of hawkish Cuban-American lawmakers such as Senator Marco Rubio, who see Obama's historic opening as an appeasement of the Castro regime.
But Trump's critics question why he singled out Cuba for such treatment when he's made a point of not lecturing other nations such as Saudi Arabia and the Philippines for bad behaviour.
"I welcome the administration bringing up human rights globally, but [Trump shouldn't] use it as an excuse to carry out a more extreme political agenda," Democratic Senator Ben Cardin told me.
Aside from the president's determination to fulfil a campaign promise to Miami, many Democrats believe he's simply bent on reversing Obama's signature policies.
Everyone agrees that a flourishing Cuban private sector is the key to political change. The disagreement is how to encourage it. Trump's policy promises to channel funds away from the Communist state and to the people who, says Mr Rubio, will in the long-term create a Cuban business class independent of the government.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says it's a matter of law - he told a recent Senate hearing that the administration believes it's illegal for the US to provide financial support to the Cuban regime.
Pro-engagement advocates think that doesn't make any sense in a country where the authorities control so much of the economy. They fear this approach will ultimately stifle what private enterprise has managed to benefit from rapprochement.
However, there is frustration across the political spectrum that detente has done little to trigger political and economic reform in Cuba.
When he was secretary of state, John Kerry's people used to give us charts outlining what they called the "internal embargo" - ways the Cuban government could but didn't make the most of America's economic opening.
According to Republican Senator Bob Corker: "It's almost like it's engrained in them that whatever it is the US wishes for them to do, they are not going to do, just to demonstrate that the revolution is still alive."
It's probably true that these aging Communist rebels have resistance hard-wired in their DNA, after decades of defining their nationalism in opposition to American overt and covert intervention.
Obama decided to take the American "bad-guy" out of the equation. Trump's moves may put it back in, and return Cuban hardliners to their comfort zone.
Trump's team certainly wants to put pressure back into the equation - Mr Tillerson said the opening to Cuba had removed Havana's incentive to change and Washington's ability to force the issue.
But Cuba's leaders don't respond well to such treatment - they've made very clear they will not let outsiders push them into making political reforms.
Alongside their denunciation of the new measures, they did repeat their willingness to continue "respectful" dialogue and co-operation. But they won't have taken kindly to Trump's blistering take-down of a "cruel and brutal" Communist regime that's committed "terrible crimes in service of a depraved ideology".
Whatever the practical economic consequences of this new/old policy, it could well reinstate the adversarial relationship Obama sought to transform.
Should Trump take a bow for Qatar row?
How will Syrian 'safe zones' work?
Trumplomacy: What does Tillerson's speech mean?
What's changed between US and N Korea


Robert Huth scored a late winner as Leicester beat Premier League top-four rivals Tottenham.

The Foxes, who are now level on points with leaders Arsenal, looked like they were heading for a fourth league game without a goal until unmarked Huth headed home Christian Fuchs' corner.
Harry Kane had Spurs' best chance when his effort was touched on to the bar by keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Foxes striker Jamie Vardy returned from groin surgery but had a quiet game.
It was the second of three meetings between the clubs in 10 days, following Sunday's 2-2 FA Cup draw - with their replay to be shown on BBC One, next Wednesday.
Relive Leicester's win over Tottenham.
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There had been fears Leicester's slide was beginning after three games without scoring - and they looked like making that four in a row before Huth's late goal.
But this win - which takes them seven points above fourth-placed Spurs and eight clear of West Ham in fifth - will give them real hope of finishing in the Champions League places, if not higher.
They were characteristically short of possession with only 39% - their average of 40.62% is the third lowest in the league - but they have shown they are far from a two-man team with Riyad Mahrez and Vardy, their two stars of the campaign, subdued throughout.
Maybe, but it was wasteful finishing rather than the lack of a second striker that cost Spurs against the Foxes.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino has continually insisted it is not urgent they sign a new striker to partner Kane, who is their top scorer with 11 league goals.
The England international was their sole striker against Leicester but Spurs' formation meant Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli got forward to support him regularly.
Those four had a combined 18 shots, although Kane's effort which Schmeichel touched on to the bar was one of only five shots on target the team managed.
Former England captain Alan Shearer on Match of the Day: "It's a remarkable story for Leicester. Only Manchester City have scored more goals than them.
"It was a good old-fashioned proper plant your feet, arch your back and get your neck muscles going header from Huth. Look at the power. Boof."
Ex-Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann: "It's a blip for Spurs. They're still in a good position and favourites to reach the Champions League. The worry is the lack of form from Christian Eriksen, who hasn't scored in the league since October. They are over-reliant on Harry Kane. If he gets injured they'll be in trouble."
Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri told BBC Match of the Day: "We wanted to win but we knew it was a difficult match. Tottenham started very well and put us under pressure but we didn't lose our confidence or shape and it was difficult for them.
"In the second half it was an open match. We both had chances and we scored the goal. Unfortunately it's January, not May. There's so much work to do. We have to remain calm and believe in what we're doing."
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Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino: "I'm disappointed. We created the better chances. You need to score. We need to keep calm and try to improve.
"All the stats are positive for us. It's difficult to explain - we deserved more and to win the game. In football you can get punished for one little mistake. We are going to try to analyse the game. We were unlucky tonight."
Both sides will be confident of wins on Saturday in the Premier League. Leicester visit bottom side Aston Villa, while Tottenham host third-from-bottom Sunderland.
The Foxes and Spurs then meet again next Wednesday in their televised FA Cup third-round replay.
Match ends, Tottenham Hotspur 0, Leicester City 1.
Second Half ends, Tottenham Hotspur 0, Leicester City 1.
Foul by Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur).
N'Golo Kanté (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Nathan Dyer (Leicester City) because of an injury.
Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Nathan Dyer (Leicester City).
Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Josh Onomah replaces Eric Dier.
Substitution, Leicester City. Nathan Dyer replaces Riyad Mahrez.
Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Leonardo Ulloa (Leicester City).
Attempt blocked. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Offside, Leicester City. Kasper Schmeichel tries a through ball, but Leonardo Ulloa is caught offside.
Foul by Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur).
Christian Fuchs (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal!  Tottenham Hotspur 0, Leicester City 1. Robert Huth (Leicester City) header from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Christian Fuchs with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Leicester City. Conceded by Dele Alli.
Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Son Heung-Min replaces Tom Carroll.
Attempt blocked. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Leonardo Ulloa (Leicester City).
Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur).
Leonardo Ulloa (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Harry Kane.
Substitution, Leicester City. Andy King replaces Shinji Okazaki.
Attempt blocked. Leonardo Ulloa (Leicester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Daniel Drinkwater.
Attempt missed. Daniel Drinkwater (Leicester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right.
Attempt blocked. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Marc Albrighton.
Attempt missed. Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Ben Davies with a cross.
Corner,  Leicester City. Conceded by Tom Carroll.
Foul by Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur).
Wes Morgan (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner,  Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Danny Simpson.
Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Mousa Dembélé replaces Christian Eriksen.
Substitution, Leicester City. Leonardo Ulloa replaces Jamie Vardy.
Corner,  Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Christian Fuchs.
Corner,  Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Christian Fuchs.
Corner,  Tottenham Hotspur. Conceded by Marc Albrighton.


A four-year-old girl is critically ill in hospital after a suspected stolen car mounted the pavement and hit her in St Helens, police said.

The girl was walking with a woman, aged 55, when they were hit by a black Ford Fiesta at 15:00 GMT on Prescot Road.
The car then hit a lamp-post before the two male occupants reportedly fled on foot.
The girl was taken to hospital. The woman is serious but stable
Prescot Road was closed from Lugsmore Lane to Dunriding Lane.


Police in parts of County Londonderry and Tyrone have begun a pilot scheme to introduce the use of body cameras.

The trial will last for six months and will be evaluated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in partnership with the College of Policing and Cambridge University.
The evaluation will help inform the introduction of body cameras for the entire PSNI.
They will be used by officers in Foyle, Strabane, Limavady and Magherafelt.
As part of the evaluation, not all officers will wear the cameras all of the time.
Superintendent Garry Eaton said the technology potentially offered a number of advantages for police and public alike.
"Officers can wear the cameras on their uniform and use it when they respond to a call or interact with members of the public.
"These contacts will be captured and can be downloaded and used in evidence where appropriate.
"They offer an opportunity to capture events as they happen and to store them so that they can be played back later to support victims and establish facts.
"Not only are the cameras useful from an evidence-gathering point of view, but if there is a disagreement between an officer and a member of the public, they can provide information quickly of what actually happened to establish facts."
As well as the PSNI, a number of services in Great Britain have also begun to deploy the cameras.
Supt. Eaton added: "The cameras will normally be attached to an officer's uniform at chest height. They are small and robust and have been designed for ease of use. Only minimal training is required.
"The cameras can record pictures and sound for up to two and a half hours, but would not normally be on all the time. They can be switched on and off by the user."
One of the areas for using the cameras will be domestic violence incidents.


Some schools are "gaming" the exam system by entering children early, the Welsh Government director of education has said.

Steve Davies told AMs officials were "concerned" about the volume of early entry.
It follows criticism from Education Secretary Kirsty Williams that children were being "banked" at lower qualifications.
Mr Davies said the government wants to take action on the issue in the autumn.
Ms Williams expressed concerns earlier in May that the focus on raising GCSE attainment to C grade has led to "unintended consequences", with some children put in for early entry to bank a lower qualification instead of potentially reaching higher.
The senior civil servant - asked about the issue of "early entry as a way of gaming the system" by Labour AM Lee Waters - said the Welsh Government advice was that decisions around early entry were made "in the interests of an individual child".
He told the assembly's public accounts committee that this year that some schools have conducted early entry "almost to test the system".
But he added: "I do believe... there are also those out there who are gaming."
Mr Davies acknowledged: "Sometimes that's the pressure that the system we have puts on them.
"I'm not in any way justifying it, but I can understand that people will resort to that."
Mr Davies said the government was working with Qualifications Wales (QW) to identify "the scale of the problem" with a report from the body due in September.
He added Ms Williams is "very aware of it" adding that action will be taken in the "early part of the autumn term" following the review.


Britain's basketball players say they can challenge for medals at future Games if they win back their Olympic funding.

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Basketball had its funding withdrawn in 2014, because it was unlikely to win medals at the Rio Games or Tokyo 2020.
But GB and Glasgow Rocks forward Kieron Achara, 33, says more investment could transform British basketball.
"It's not going to happen overnight, but we are making steps forward and I'm excited about the future," he said.
We're looking at other sports, like cycling, which did a lot on their own, and trying to find private investors
Grant-making body UK Sport awards £100m annually to sports that are expected to win medals, but a new strategy means participation rates will also be taken into account.
This could help basketball retrieve some funding as more than 150,000 people aged 16 and over play the sport at least once a week, according to Sport England participation figures.
In 2014, Achara said the loss of funding meant he and his team-mates were living on £15 a day as they attempted to reach the European Championships, adding that some players had to sleep in beds that were not big enough for them.
Neither Team GB's men's or women's basketball teams - ranked 22nd and 21st respectively - qualified for the Rio Olympic Games.
GB Basketball's hopes of receiving funding have been boosted by UK Sport's new funding model, and Achara told BBC World Service Sport that basketball was already making steps to improve.
"We have to think about the reasons why the funding was cut and prove how we deserve that funding in the future," said Achara, who represented Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games.
"We're looking at other sports, like cycling, which did a lot on their own, and trying to find private investors, so it's attractive for British players to come back and play in the national league rather than overseas - so we can develop our own style, nurture our own players, and improve our strength and conditioning.
"We are trying to assemble the best team we can, and qualify for EuroBasket and then the Worlds."
Find out how to get into basketball with our special guide.
Achara also wants more experienced coaches with top-level pedigree to be used by GB as he thinks this could make playing for the national side more appealing to British players in the NBA.
"Many of our coaches have only worked in the UK. We're not a basketball culture so they need people with overseas experience to mentor them," Achara said.
"If we had the best British players in the NBA playing regularly for us, I promise you we would have a great team and be at the top level at the Olympics."
Guard Ben Gordon - who played in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls - agrees.
"It has to do with getting the best talent on the same team - getting the players back from overseas so we have our best representation," he said.
GB's men have six EuroBasket qualifiers starting from 31 August, with home and away games against Hungary, Macedonia and Luxembourg.
If they win their group they will qualify for EuroBasket 2017 - which is to be held in four different nations next August and September - with the knockout stages played in Istanbul, Turkey.
Their first home qualifier is against Macedonia on 3 September at the Copper Box at the Olympic Park.
On Friday and Saturday they play the Netherlands in warm-up matches in Manchester.
Britain's women have two EuroBasket 2017 qualifiers remaining, away to Italy on 19 November and away to Albania on 23 November.
They are currently third in their group and are likely to require victory in both of their remaining games to qualify automatically, although they could also progress to the final tournament in the Czech Republic as one of the six best placed runners-up.
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Cardiff Devils managing director Todd Kelman says the Sheffield Steelers have caused a "media frenzy" ahead of their Challenge Cup final on 5 March.

Steelers coach Paul Thompson said the Devils had an advantage, after their request to rearrange their Elite League game 24 hours before the final was declined.
League rules state teams cannot change fixtures within four weeks of a game.
The Steelers face Coventry Blaze in the Elite League on Saturday, 4 March.
"I know Sheffield have tried to make a big media frenzy out of having to play the night before a game," Kelman told BBC Wales Sport.
"But 32 weeks of the year, pretty much, you play two games in a row and I think the fans need to understand that.
"We had the foresight to plan not to play the night before a game, they did not and they wanted a rule put in place that you could not cancel a game in four weeks, so I don't feel bad for them at all.
Cardiff Devils travel to Manchester on Friday to play Manchester Storm in the Elite League, and two days later take on the Steelers in the final at Ice Arena Wales.
"It is advantage to Cardiff because they pulled that move on us that we could not move the game," Steelers coach Paul Thompson said.
"It is not fair. It is a cup final, both teams should have the same opportunity so we are a little bit rattled about that, but I hope that comes back and haunts Cardiff."
The Devils and the Steelers faced each other in the Challenge Cup final in 2015 and during that match it was the Devils who took the victory, winning 2-1 in the Sheffield Arena.
Kelman acknowledged that in the Elite League playing back-to-back games is not uncommon, and the Devils even had to play a game the night before their Challenge Cup final in 2015.
"Whatever media circus they want to create over having to play the night before a game - they do it every single weekend just like nine other teams in the league do," Kelman continued.
"We are not worried about it and we are not rising to it. We are just focusing on the game.
"I don't think the Cardiff Devils are the bad guys for making them obey the rule they put in place, I think it is kind of silly."
The Devils are currently top of the Elite League standings on 71 points and will be aiming for their third Challenge Cup trophy on Sunday, after winning the cup in 2006 and 2015.
The Welsh side were runners up in the competition in 2016 after losing 1-0 against the Nottingham Panthers.


Northern Ireland has been chosen to host the Commonwealth Youth Games in the summer of 2021.

About 1,000 athletes, aged between 14 and 18, will participate in the event, scheduled for 27 July to 1 August.
Boxers Carl Frampton and Michael Conlan, and swimmer Sycerika McMahon are among Northern Irish athletes to have previously competed at the Games.
NI Commonwealth Games chairman Robert McVeigh described it as a hugely significant day for local sport.
"This is the result of many years of lobbying and hard work," said McVeigh.
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"It offers a great opportunity for children to strive towards being part of the largest ever Team NI at a Commonwealth Youth Games."
More than 60 nations were represented at the last Youth Games, staged in Samoa in September, with Northern Ireland finishing eighth in the medal table.
The next Youth Games will take place in the Bahamas in 2017, after which it will revert to a four-year cycle.
The formal announcement of Northern Ireland's hosting of the 2021 Games will take place at Belfast City Hall on Monday, with Commonwealth Games NI patron Dame Mary Peters in attendance.
It is expected the swimming competition will take place at the Aurora complex in Bangor, with the Mary Peters Track in Belfast hosting the athletics, and the gymnastics being held in Lisburn.
Northern Ireland were the only bidders for the 2021 Games, after Jersey and Botswana withdrew.


Traditional Irish musician Francis McPeake has told a court he made a "big mistake" in taking a schoolgirl and her friend on a day trip.

The 72-year-old denies 12 counts of sex offences against a girl who was 15 at the time of the alleged incidents.
He told the jury at Belfast Crown Court: "I have done nothing wrong."
Giving evidence for a second day, he said the teenager "insisted" on accompanying him on the trip to Bangor, County Down.
It happened four months after the girl's family had confronted Mr McPeake about the nature of his relationship with her, the court heard.
Mr McPeake denied that her mother had told him to stay away from the teenager, but said he was told she would no longer attend music lessons with him.
He said he had travelled to Bangor as he needed work done on his car.
A prosecution lawyer put it to him: "You didn't have to take her, did you Mr McPeake?"
He replied: "No, that was a big mistake on my behalf."
Mr McPeake also dismissed as "a lie" a suggestion that he had kissed the girl in front of two older women at a playpark in the seaside town.
He said the girl would keep turning up and harassing him.
When asked why he continued to agree to meet her, Mr McPeake said she had threatened to tell his wife he was having an affair with another woman, warned that she would call social services and said she would kill herself.
Asked why he had answered "no comment" when police put the allegations to him during interview, he said he was acting on the advice of his solicitor.
The trial continues.


A father who sons died after taking lethal doses of ecstasy has revealed plans for a skate park in their memory.

Jacques and Torin Lakeman, aged 19 and 20, from Port St Mary, were found in a room above a pub in Bolton after taking drugs bought on the "dark web" in 2014.
Isle of Man Skateboarding (ISB) is supporting the Jactor skate project and an official launch is taking place at Scoill Phurt le Moirrey school later.
Ray Lakeman said: "It would provide a real boost for young people."
The Jactor skate project would cost around Â£75,000 and the launch includes a presentation and demonstration by ISB.
Mr Lakeman, who has called for drugs that killed his sons to be legalised, said: "After the boys died we held a memorial service where the idea came around.
"We've already done some fundraising and when we asked local school children what the town needs the skate park was a very popular idea.
"It would certainly be something the boys would have loved themselves."
Jacques was an aspiring chef and Torin was in his second year of studying physics at Aberystwyth University.
ISB Founder Kristian Edwards said: "Braddan commissioners were extremely forward thinking with the skate park and subsequent concrete bowl, the first of its kind on the island.
"It is regularly used by children and adults. We have already got a great set of designs for Port St Mary.
"This will be a fantastic asset to community so please support."
Last week skateboarding was included in the MicroGaming community games for the first time with hundreds of children taking part.
Clubs have also been set up at two of the island's secondary schools in 2017.


Four key Commons committees are asking the education secretary to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education compulsory in schools.

The education, health, home affairs and business committee chairmen want PSHE, which covers sex education, made statutory in primaries and secondaries.
In a letter to Nicky Morgan, they express concern at her failure to respond to various committees' calls.
The government is working on a way to achieve high-quality PSHE for all.
It published guidelines on sex and relationship education (SRE) in 2015.
While PSHE education is not part of the statutory national curriculum, which means there is no national programme of study for the subject, the Department for Education say schools should teach it to pupils.
Schools are also required to have a policy on sex and relationship education which is made available to parents, and for inspection, which must set out how this is provided, monitored and evaluated..
It must also include information about parents' right to withdraw their children from sex education classes.
The chairmen's letter said: "We write to express our disappointment with your response so far to the issue of the statutory status for PSHE and sex and relationships education in schools.
"PSHE is a crucial part of preparing young people for life. It can provide them with the knowledge and confidence to make decisions which affect their health, well-being and relationships, now and in the future.
"It can develop the skills and attributes needed to secure employment and can help protect young people from abuse in many forms."
In February 2015, the education committee called for the DfE to "develop a work plan for introducing age-appropriate PSHE and SRE as statutory subjects in primary and secondary schools, setting out its strategy for improving the supply of teachers able to deliver this subject and a timetable for achieving this".
In January 2015, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said it would be better if schools were "required broadly to teach the same curriculum in PSHE" and that this should include issues in relation to violence against women and girls.
Six months earlier, the Home Affairs Committee called for PSHE, covering education about female genital mutilation in high prevalence areas, to be made compulsory.
And both the Children's Commissioner for England and the Chief Medical Officer made their own calls to make the subject statutory.
A Department for Education spokesman said it wanted all young people to leave school equipped with a curriculum for life that prepares them to succeed in modern Britain and the teaching of PSHE was central to that plan.
"We are working with head teachers and other experts to understand how best to achieve high-quality PSHE for every pupil," he said.
The spokesman added that PSHE was not yet good enough in many schools, adding the department had committed to looking further at this issue and examining all the options to ensure the subject was taught to a high standard in all schools.
It intended to make significant progress on this issue this Parliament, he said.


Several football clubs tried to catch out their supporters on April Fool's Day - but one of the more remarkable stories to appear is in fact true.

AFC Wimbledon are set for the big screen, having reached agreement with Hollywood studio Fox 2000 for a film to be made about the club.
The Dons' story will be retold from its formation in 2002, when it held trials on Wimbledon Common.
The phoenix club, founded by supporters after the old Wimbledon FC was given permission to relocate to Milton Keynes, reached the Football League in 2011 following five promotions in nine years.
American author John Green, who sponsors a stand at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, will co-produce the film.
"AFC Wimbledon isn't just one of the best underdog stories in sports history; it's also a story about a community that fought the injustice of the Milton Keynes debacle and is now fighting to have a stadium back in Wimbledon," Green told the club website.
The film is in the early stages of development, with no script yet written or schedule for release.
However, Matthew Breach, chair of the Dons Trust which owns the club, said the deal was "a fantastic opportunity to tell a great story".
With the Dons currently 10th in League Two and attempting to reach the play-offs, it is not yet known whether the likes of manager Neal Ardley or striker Adebayo 'The Beast' Akinfenwa will have roles in the film.
So the prospect of a Dons movie is fact, not fiction.
But the same could not be said of the imaginative lines appearing on social media and club websites on Friday morning.
Southampton were straight out of the blocks, informing fans they would be introducing a new club crest this summer.
There would be one minor change to their current badge - replacing the halo-topped football at the top of their badge with an angel-face emoji.
Meanwhile, Arsenal claimed they would be installing a retractable sunroof at the Emirates and Championship club Bristol City said 6ft 5in defender Aden Flint had signed a dual-registration deal with local basketball side Bristol Flyers.
But perhaps best of all saw Hartlepool United announcing that the Football Association had given them permission to play in fancy dress on the final day of the season.
Maybe both Pools and Wimbledon are in need of a good costume designer...
Have you added the new Top Story alerts in the BBC Sport app? Simply head to the menu in the app - and don't forget you can also add score alerts for your football team and more.


"Swing and Abyss" was the headline in USA Today, summing up an American verdict that the story of the 80th Masters was Jordan Spieth's extraordinary back nine meltdown.

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Yet taking this view ignores a performance worthy of major glory from a player who was ready to win at the highest level. Danny Willett's triumph was no fluke.
While the wider sporting public can now wake up to the fact that the UK has a new golfing hero, those close to the game have been more than aware of the talents of the 28-year-old from Sheffield.
Willett had served his time to win his first major. Furthermore, he demonstrated a precious killer instinct to pounce on the back nine at Augusta when the opportunity presented itself.
Spieth handed over the initiative as his once five-stroke advantage drowned in Rae's Creek on the 12th hole, but the Englishman capitalised with the ruthlessness of the finest champions.
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He looked up at the scoreboard on his way to the 16th tee to see that he was now leading the tournament. The next stop was an on-course portable toilet.
"I needed to go, but it was probably a good thing," he told the BBC. "It gave me a couple of minutes to be with myself, albeit in the bathroom.
"I just had a think about what we were doing and then just said 'you know what Dan, head back down, get a number, hit a golf shot and carry on'.
"I actually said to myself it's just five shots. Tee shot into 16 and then the shots to 17 and 18."
The one he hit to the 16th was probably the shot of his life. It set up the six-foot birdie putt that, once slotted, piled the pressure onto the re-grouping Spieth.
The defending champion was left with too much to do down the stretch and that's why the young American had to put the famous green jacket onto the shoulders of the English champion.
Willett took up the game as a boy and would be dropped off at his local club to play all day during his school holidays. He would routinely beat his brothers, quickly outdriving them by 80 yards or so.
The son of a local vicar, Rev Steve Willett who preaches at Christ Church in Hackenthorpe, South Yorkshire, and his Swedish mother Elisabet, who works in a Barnsley school, Danny, the third of four children, was captivated by the game.
At 16 he quit his local college course after a month before attending Jacksonville State in Alabama for two years.
Willett was the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and won medallist honours in 2007, before leaving America without a degree.
Later that year he won the English Amateur Championship and in 2008 rose to number one in the world amateur rankings before turning professional.
Willett has been dogged by back problems but countered them with a dedicated gym regime that enabled him to work just as hard on the range. He came through European Tour qualifying school for the 2009 season and finished inside the top 60 in the Race to Dubai.
The Yorkshireman's first Tour victory came at the fourth extra hole of a play-off for the BMW International Open in Cologne in 2012. He was third at last year's WGC Matchplay and was only a stroke off the lead at the halfway stage of the 2015 Open at St Andrews.
This was a player starting to fulfil his prodigious potential. He went on to win the European Masters in Switzerland and began this year with a fine victory at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Willett looked at home among the best in the world and challenged at the World Golf Championships event at Doral last month.
But life wasn't just about golf at this stage because his wife Nicole was heavily pregnant with their first son, who was in a breach position. Twelve days prior to his Masters success, baby Zachariah James was safely delivered by caesarean section.
Willett planned to travel to Augusta for his second Masters on the Tuesday of the tournament but his manager Chubby Chandler persuaded him this would not leave enough preparation time.
Instead the player travelled on the Monday but was still last to sign up. He was the 89th man officially in the field, just as Jack Nicklaus had been 30 years earlier when he so famously claimed his sixth green jacket.
The nine stroke swing between Willett and Spieth in 40 crazy minutes on Sunday will also go into Masters folklore, but the fact that the Englishman became a major champion for the first time should not be regarded as a surprise.
"Danny thought this was going to happen sooner or later," Chandler said. The experienced manager is convinced Willett, now the world number nine, is in the mix at the very top of the game.
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"Well he will be now, if he's not been already. He's that good," Chandler said.
"It'll be nice for Europe to have one of those. Rory [McIlroy] is Europe but he lives in West Palm [Beach in Florida] whereas Danny lives in Sheffield."
Chandler sees no reason to change his client's immediate schedule in the wake of this triumph. "Everything sticks the same," he said.
Willett's attitude to the game, which is based on the mental strength that was so evident during the closing holes on Sunday, will also remain unaltered.
"He's talked about psychologists and he said he didn't need one," Chandler added. "He talks to his dad and has always said 'my dad's taught me to live my life right'.
"And that's what he does.  He writes little thank you letters, he does everything dead right. He thinks that if he does that you're not going to go too far wrong.  It's very simple.
"He works hard in the gym, he works so hard, partly because of his back, partly because he wants to. He'll be here for a long time."
This is wonderful news for the British game, which was reinvigorated by this victory in the most glamorous of the majors and the fine showings of fellow Englishmen Lee Westwood (tied second), Paul Casey (T4), Matthew Fitzpatrick (T7) and Justin Rose (T10).
For its drama and deserving winner it was indeed a vintage Masters. Spieth will surely recover and clamber out of his current abyss - after all, he already has two majors in the bag at the age of 22.
But he will also be aware that Willett provides another rival to sit alongside Jason Day, McIlroy and Rickie Fowler as a twenty-something capable of landing the biggest prizes.