tonight at ten, theresa may prepares to spell out her ambitions for britain's departure from the european union. on the eve of her long—awaited speech, we'll be reporting on the likely shape of the prime minister's strategy. and there's already an offer of help from donald trump, he tells journalists he'll work on an early trade deal with britain. obama said you'll go to the back of the line meaning, if it does happen, that was a bad statement. and now we're at the front of the queue? i think you're doing great. and we'll be reporting on reaction to mr trump's criticism of germany, of nato, and the eu. also tonight. the inquest into the killing of 30 british tourists in tunisia hears that the security forces delayed their response to the attack. in northern ireland, the power—sharing executive has collapsed. there'll be new elections to the assembly on march the 2nd. no one should underestimate the challenge faced to the political institutions here in northern ireland, and what is at stake. rolls—royce will pay nearly

£700 million to settle allegations of bribery and corruption. they‘ re quite naughty, rebellious books, i suppose. there are a lot of naughty, rebellious children around. and tributes to the children's author and illustrator babette cole, who's died at the age of 67. and coming up in sportsday on bbc news: andy murray gets off to a winning start in melbourne as the world number one sets his sights on the first tennis major of the year, the australian open. good evening. theresa may has been finalising her long—awaited statement on the government's ambitions

for the forthcoming talks on leaving the european union. in tomorrow's speech the prime minister's expected to spell out what kind of brexit deal she wants, and the future trading relationship with the eu. donald trump says his promise to negotiate an early trade deal between america and the uk should strengthen mrs may's hand. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports on what we might expect, based on the evidence so far. heard the one about leaving the european union? brexit means brexit. what's that again? brexit means brexit. and in case you hadn't heard. brexit means brexit. but despite what sounds like meaningless platitudes, the big decisions on the european union have been obvious since june. there is clearly no mandate for a deal that involves accepting the free movement of people as it has worked hitherto. unlimited eu immigration won't stay, nor the power of european judges. 0urjudges, sitting not

in luxembourg, but in courts across the land. without them in charge, it means we'll be out of the single market. people talk in terms as if somehow we are leaving the eu but we still want to kind of keep bits of membership of the eu. we are leaving, we are coming out. and she's even dressed up to make plain how doing business outside europe will be more and more important. and a thumbs up for brexit from the man who in 91 hours will be the most powerful in the world. promises of a quick trade deal given to one of the biggest brexit backers. former minister, sometimes reporter michael gove. countries want their own identity. and the uk wanted its own identity. but i do believe this, if they hadn't been forced to take in all of the refugees, so many, with all the problems that it entails, i think that you wouldn't have a brexit. good cheer for brexiteers ahead

of the prime minister's speech. it's very good news that the united states of america wants to do a good free trade deal with us and wants to do it very fast, and it's great to hear that from president—elect donald trump. the prime minister may delight them, ready tomorrow to make plain what's been implied for some time. we're going to have the european court ofjustice no longer over ruling our laws. we are also going to be outside the single market so we can control our own borders. and probably outside the customs union so that we can negotiate our own trade deals with the rest of the world. this is the most crucial set of choices any prime minister has made for years. and although the fundamentals were clear before she moved in, there's been precious little detail in public. but theresa may's opponents fear she'll disappoint because she's juggling her party as well as the public. partly because she's had to overcompensate, as a former remainer, to prove herself to her own party. partly because she has

no mandate of her own, she has not been elected by anybody, so she's not in a very strong position. but partly because she's chosen, really, only to listen to the 52% of people who voted for brexit, and not the almost half of the remaining part of the voting public voted for a different future. some people might say that people on your side of the argument haven't listened to people on the other side for too long and that's why the vote went the way it did. i accept that unless something dramatic happens or there's a huge change in public opinion, brexit is likely to occur. what i do not accept is that the brexiteers have a mandate on how to deliver brexit. tomorrow matters. theresa may will tell us and them, the other european countries, more about her decisions that will shape britain for decades to come. her political hope, she and the country are not on their way to isolation. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. our business editor simonjack is in davos,

where the world economic forum taking place this week, and our deputy political editor john pienaar is in downing street. we'll come to jump in a moment. we'll come tojump in a moment. what oui’ we'll come tojump in a moment. what our business leaders saying about their hopes, ambitions, even fears before tomorrow's speech?” their hopes, ambitions, even fears before tomorrow's speech? i think that the writing has been on the wall for some time that we are leaving the single market. what is new is that we are more than likely to leave the customs union which is a perimeter around europe which governs what stuff comes in but then things can move freely within so you don't have to open every palate and inspect every lorry—load. looks and we'll be leaving that to make the most of trade deals around the world. they are holding more cards than you thought, you had donald trump endorsing the uk approach, senior eu negotiators admitting it would be very disruptive for the eu if the uk was to leave on bad terms.

even mild mannered philip hammond has said he might take the gloves off and lower taxes if we didn't get a good deal. all of that has added to their confidence that they can thrash out a good deal. what is being said here is that we don't wa nt to being said here is that we don't want to be overconfident here, we don't want to get to a position where we thought we were going to get a good deal and did not in fact get a good deal and did not in fact get one and fall onto wto regulations which means tariffs, and businesses worry could damage trade. many thanks. john, i said this speech was long—awaited, how much detail are we likely to get? theresa may is being egged on by a chorus of enthusiastic brexiteers in her party, in the press, some in her cabinet to promise as clean a break as one can imagine from all eu obligations and ties. theresa may is, above all else, a pragmatist. he

has not played her cards as closely as she has done to tip them now. she is not an ideological committed brexiteer. she will be clear on driving as hard bargain as she has two to achieve laws made here in britain by british lawmakers and e nforced britain by british lawmakers and e nfo rce d by britain by british lawmakers and enforced by british judges and within borders managed by an immigration policy made in britain. there are expected to be maybe a dozen points she will touch on for the coming negotiations in the week ahead. will that satisfy the clamour for more clarity? not much chance of that. will it give us a clear idea of where we end up? even less chance. that will be up to long negotiations in many months ahead and nobody knows the details of that yet. thank you both. some of europe's political leaders have hit back at donald trump after he accused chancellor merkel of making a ‘catastrophic‘ decision to accept hundreds of thousands of migrants, people he called "illegals".

he also threatened high tariffs on german car imports. mrs merkel responded by saying that europe would continue to fight for its own identity. and president hollande of france said europe did not need "outside advice", as our diplomatic correspondent james robbins reports. they have rehearsed the inauguration in washington with a stand—in for president trump, but no one knows quite what to expect at friday's ceremony, still less what his first 100 days could bring. the president—elect continues to amaze, now accusing germany's chancellor merkel, more than 11 years in office, of a very catastrophic mistake with her open—doors approach to migrants. i think it's not good, i think it was a big mistake for germany. germany's chancellor did not return fire, except to argue that genuine refugees cannot be sacrificed in the fight against terrorism. translation: i would separate this

from the task of helping refugees. the majority of refugees have left syria because of their oppression by assad. and here's the latest trump on president putin. we can make good deals with russia, he says. one good deal could involve reducing both sides' nuclear arsenals, but at what cost? some fear mr trump easing sanctions against russia. there's talk of an early summit in iceland's capital echoing the famous reykjavik encounter between reagan and gorbachev 30 years ago. that summit may have failed but it did open the way for eventual arms reduction. now the man tipped as trump's pic for ambassador to the eu says history can be repeated. trump's pic for ambassador to the eu says history can be repeatedlj think says history can be repeated.” think there will be a summit in rakitic which is quite interesting,

not unlike the summit between reagan and gorbachev some decades ago where people were equally pessimistic and yet what resulted? frankly the end of the cold war. and we need an end to this cold war. donald trump is still calling the western military alliance of nato obsolete, so what could that mean for the new deployment of heavy armour to poland to deter any russian threat? could it be reversed ? to deter any russian threat? could it be reversed? francois hollande expressed his frustration. translation: europe will already be ready to pursue transatlantic operation. europe does not need outside advice to tell it what it has to do. those staging the inauguration may be anxious to learn lessons from their rehearsals but signs are world leaders remain worried about the real president trump. how will he translate

sometimes baffling words into action? china has also reacted strongly to mr trump's latest pronouncements. state media in beijing said china would ‘take off the gloves‘ and take strong action if mr trump continued to provoke beijing over taiwan. mr trump broke with decades of precedent last month by taking a telephone call from the taiwanese president, a move that angered beijing, which regards taiwan as part of china. our correspondentjohn sudworth reports from beijing. not everyone in china is taking donald trump too seriously. his inauguration this week comes just ahead of the chinese new year of the rooster. and this factory is making, well, giant trump lookalike chicken balloons. the orders are flowing in, we can barely cope, the boss tells me. but increasingly mr trump is becoming a target of anger.

rather than a figure of fun. mock—ups of taiwanese ships provide shooting practice at this chinese military museum. just across the taiwan strait. while us presidents have long avoided challenging beijing's claim to sovereignty, the so—called one china policy, mr trump says he might. "china's military, especially our navy, is growing stronger, we don't fear us provocation", this man tells me. "we want peace, but if they cross our red line we have to take measures," this woman agrees. last week, in a move seen by some as intended to make that very point, china sent its aircraft carrier through the taiwan strait. and china's communist party run newspapers have issued a stark warning, telling mr trump that

if he changes us policy, beijing will have no choice but to take off the gloves, and that china will mercilessly combat those who advocate taiwan's independence. these chinese workers make luxury marble products for the us market. for them, the biggest fear is not rising military tension, but a trade war. their american boss believes mr trump's threatened tariffs will do nothing to change the basic market reality. hiring one worker in the states, that could hire five to six in china. so moving our business to the states would impinge into our margins which would then reflect on consumer pricing. and it would be very difficult to run a business that way. the world is about to find out whether one of the most vital

and complex bilateral relationships is to undergo a profound change. before his election, china could simply dismiss donald trump's rhetoric as the overinflated blast of the campaign trail. not any more. and china is making it increasingly clear that while it has a lot to lose, so, too, does america and the wider world. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. our north america editor jon sopel is in washington. this latest interview, what does it tell us, do you think, about mr trump's likely approach to foreign policy? i think it tells us there is not an overarching philosophy. in the bush— blair era we had liberalist interventionism and some have posed

trump as an isolationist but i don't think that's right. as everything with trouble you have to view him as a businessman and deal—maker. if you look at the transcript of the interview he gave, it is peppered with remarks i'm going to deal with this one, we are going to do a deal with that one and he talks about cabinet choices, what makes them good? they are good deal—makers, he wa nts to good? they are good deal—makers, he wants to do a deal with britain on trade and a deal with nato companies getting them to spend more, deals with china, russia and the middle east and that's the way he thinks. the worry of the diplomatic immunity in washington is if you do one deal it has a consequence somewhere else. it's like three—dimensional chess. you can't move one piece without the other pieces on the board being affected. there is a feeling donald trump doesn't get that. that said, donald trump's focus come if he can help it, is not to be on international affairs, it is to focus on us issues, jobs, health care. that's where he wants the

first few months of his administration to focus on. jon sopel administration to focus on. jon sopel, thank you, with the latest from washington. the inquests into the deaths of 30 british tourists who were killed in tunisia 18 months ago have started in london. they were shot dead by a gunman at a beach resort near sousse. it was the deadliest terror attack on britons since thejuly 7th bombings in london in 2005. the inquest has been told that some of the victims might still be alive, had local security forces acted more quickly. our correspondent daniela relph reports. for them, the inquests matter so much. the families of those killed, still looking for answers. as the hearing began, the names of those who died were read out followed by a minute's silence. the inquest heard they had needlessly lost their lives. shouting mobile phone footage shows the chaos and confusion during the attacks. the families watched it in court.

listening to the sound of gunfire and the sense of panic. gunfire the gunman was seifeddine rezgui, a 23—year—old who was eventually shot dead by the security forces. but he'd been intent on killing tourists. cctv footage has traced his movements that day. an unknown person dropped off by car near the hotel. as he walked away he hid his gun beneath a parasol under his arm. the sounds of gunfire were heard, those on the beach run for their lives, confused about what was happening. on the beach was rezgui, shooting systematically at western tourists. he can then be seen inside the hotel, roaming around, looking for his next victims. at no point do the police or security guards appear to try to stop him. samantha leek qc, counsel to the inquests, referred to a statement from a tunisian witness.

she told the court: "he said the security units that should have intervened deliberately and unjustifiably slowed down to delay their arrival at the hotel. they had the ability to put an end to the attack before the police arrived." this is a map of the gunman‘s movements put together by a british police team. the red arrow indicates where rezgui started shooting may the sun lounges before moving to the terrace and outdoor pool area and into the hotel. he killed everywhere he went. this 3—d graphic was also shown to the inquest. the name and photo of each victim marks the place where they were attacked. there was also evidence today from a senior diplomat at the foreign office. she said at the time of the killings tunisia was ranked as high risk with attacks possible. but at that stage british tourists were not advised to avoid the country altogether.

it has been a difficult day for the families. but they want to know how their loved ones came to die in such a horrifying way. daniela relph, bbc news, at the high court. rolls—royce has agreed to pay £670 million to the authorities in britain, the us and brazil — to settle bribery and corruption claims. the british company — which makes engines forjets, ships, and nuclear submarines — said the agreements related to offences involving its intermediaries overseas. our industry correspondent john moylan is here. what happened here? in 2012 the serious fraud office said it was looking into allegations of corruption involving rolls—royce in china, indonesia and other markets. the us open their own investigation into this two years later. you may recall panorama did its own investigation last year with similarclaims its own investigation last year with similar claims regarding rolls—royce in india and brazil and what all of

this was about was rolls—royce's use of intermediaries or agents in countries around the world and claims that payments or bribes were being used to win contracts. this afternoon after markets closed rolls—royce issued a statement confirming it had reached agreement with these authorities in the uk, us and brazil. under the agreement it escapes prosecution, but it admits wrongdoing and will pay this huge fine, almost £700 million come at a time it can ill afford it, after a number of profits warnings in recent yea rs. number of profits warnings in recent years. rolls—royce said it co—operated fully with the authorities and reduced its use of agents around the world in recent yea rs agents around the world in recent years but you have to say this saga is hugely damaging for the reputation of what is one of britain's most important companies. john moylan, thank you. the thank you. power—sharing executive in northern ireland has collapsed — and new elections to the assembly have been announced — for 2nd march. earlier today, sinn fein refused to nominate a new deputy first minister — following the resignation of martin mcguinness. sinn fein are blaming the first minister — the dup‘s arlene foster —

for mishandling a controversial energy scheme — which could cost the taxpayer £500 million. our chief correspondent gavin hewitt reports. for ten years power has been shared in northern ireland. it was one of the foundation stones of peace. today that power—sharing government collapsed. i propose that a draft order in council be brought forward shortly to set an election date of thursday 2nd march. no one should underestimate the challenge faced to the political institutions here in northern ireland and what is at stake. the trigger for the breakdown was a row over a controversial green energy scheme drawn up by unionist minister arlene foster. but the bitter arguments over the scheme exposed growing tensions between nationalist and unionist politicians. i think it's both

parties, personally. i find it very disappointing and very, very sad. it's the tribal politics, you know, i feel like we're back in the 80s and i was really hopeful that for the future generations that they would have a different story. there's no appetite for a return to any sort of violence at any stage or form in the near future. i think that possibly what will happen is we will be led through another couple of years of political insecurity. at stormont the northern ireland assembly depends on unionists and nationalists sharing power. today both main parties were asked to submit a name for one of the two top posts. first up, the democratic unionist party. mr speaker, i very readily... and they backed their current leader. ..nominate arlene foster to be the first minister. next up, sinn fein. there can be no return to the status quo. if something is broke you stop and you fix it. that is the sinn fein approach.

but they refused to put forward a name, so ending the power—sharing government. what does all this mean? uncertainty for northern ireland. without an executive, key areas of government will be stalled and then, most importantly, there's brexit. where will be the northern ireland voice when crucial decisions are taken? we are in a very grave situation going into this election and the timing of it when northern ireland has no budget agreed, when we are facing brexit and when we are also coming to the end of the financial year is possibly the worst time that we could be entering into this kind of disarray. recent years have changed northern ireland, but the shadows of the past still make compromise difficult. some campaigning for this snap poll have already begun with voters going

to the polls on march the 2nd. then what will happen will be a period of negotiations, perhaps lasting three weeks when they will try and hammer out whether there is a basis for future power—sharing. what happens if they can't reach an agreement? then they could be further elections in the future, or they could be direct rule from westminster. tonight there was a telephone call from downing street to the irish prime minister expressing real concern that this election here could be divisive. studio: gavin hewitt, our chief correspondent at stormont, thank you. a brief look at some of the day's other other news stories. reports from turkey say the gunman suspected of killing 39 people at a nightclub in istanbul on new year's day has been captured. local media say he was found in a district of the city. so—called islamic state has said it carried out the attack at the club. in his first major speech of the new year — the bank of england governor mark carney has warned families about spending on credit — and ignoring the uncertainty related to brexit.

he said rising prices could hit spending power as the year goes on — leaving people with less money to pay off debts. the former youth football coach — barry bennell — has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of child abuse. the allegations all involve a boy under the age of 15 in the 1980s when bennell worked at crewe alexandra. police in south yorkshire say they're treating the death of a 16—year—old girl in rotherham as suspicious. her body was found in an alleyway in the dinnington area of the town this morning. nhs doctors in england are warning that some patients face ‘dangerous' delays getting specialist treatment through their gps. the british medical association says referral management centres — create barriers and take decisions away from gps. but supporters of the system say it's a good way to manage scarce resources. our health editor hugh pym has more details. if a gp refers you for a hospital checkup or treatment you might think it would happen automatically but in some areas the decision has to be vetted by another organisation,

sometimes a private company, and that's the subject of a growing controversy. tracy used to find everyday household chores a nightmare, in constant pain because of her varicose veins. i was in so much pain with my leg 2a hours a day. i wasn't sleeping properly, i was struggling to get through my work. her gp recommended an operation on the nhs but this was barred by the referral centre so she had to get it done privately. if a gp feels that a specialist needs to look at you then the nhs should be supporting that and they're not. research by the bbc has revealed an increase in the use of these centres in england. there are about 13.5 million referrals for treatment by gps every year. last year, about 2 million were screened by referral management centres. more than 84,000 were rejected for clinical reasons, or because of clerical errors. really it is a form of rationing.

that's not to say that we don't need to perhaps ration within the nhs but i would rather it was done explicitly and that the public were involved rather than every purchasing authority making its own individual decisions and sometimes using private companies to do that. the logic of the system is that at a time of rising patient demand and stretched resources local health commissioners have a mechanism for scrutinising decisions which could lead to expensive hospital treatment. though they acknowledge that once you've taken on board the cost of the centres there's no way yet of assessing whether they do provide value for money. some local health bodies are limiting certain types of care. the referral centres are reinforcing those decisions. we don't want to squander any money, we have limited resources, so it's really important resources we have we spend most effectively and get the best value our population.

best value for money, or bad news for patients? that's the question. there's limited use of this system in wales. it's not part of the health service in scotland and northern ireland. in england it's certainly generated a lively debate. hugh pym, bbc news. tributes have been paid to the children's author and illustrator babette cole — who's died at the age of 67. she created more than 70 picture books — including the bestseller, dr dog. she also worked on bbc children's programmes including bagpuss and watch with mother. nick higham looks back at her life. there were only two things ever that i could do in my life. one was ride a horse and the other was tell a good tale. you could say she was eccentric. it ran in the family. on my mother's side they were circus people and pirates. and on my father's side they were painters. when she wasn't riding horses or playing with her dogs, babette cole wrote and illustrated books that,

like her, were funny and rather subversive. princess smarty pants was her feminist take on stories about fairy tale princesses. princes queue up to marry smarty pants but when she kisses one he turns into a toad. and they all have second thoughts. many of her books were educational. dr dog aimed to teach children about dirt and disease. mummy laid an egg talked about sex. mummy laid an egg was sort of a really ground—breaking book because nobody had done a sex education book for children in that way. turning it around, so it's actually the children that are teaching the parents, which is what made it so interesting and so acceptable. she produced books about slime and smells, about puberty, about coping with divorce, about handling troublesome family members. there were more than 70 titles in all.