this is bbc newsroom live. i'm christian fraser live in florence. the headlines at 11.00: theresa may is on her way to florence for her significant brexit speech, with a message that the uk and european both have a responsibility to make brexit work. if things move on to the next stage, we want to see a proper basis established for the future trading relationship, for partnerships in areas like security. we want to see things move forward well. ina in a speech in the city she is expected to propose a two—year transition deal costing about £18 billion a head of a prominent trade deal. we will have the build—up from here in florence ahead of the important speech at two o'clock. also coming up this hour: one of britain's senior police officers warns the strain for counterterrorism operations on other areas of policing is not sustainable. in an unprecedented personal statement, the north korean leader, kim jong un, describes

president trump as "mentally deranged". from next year banks and building societies will have to carry out checks on all current account holders to establish if they are in the uk illegally. a hive of information, scientists place trackers on bees to help more about their life cycle and their illnesses. a very good morning from florence. so often on this long journey towards brexit we talk about important announcements and perhaps use the term to loosely in the media, but there is the filling in

florence today judging media, but there is the filling in florence todayjudging by the cameras around me that this is actually an important occasion. of course, though brexit negotiations have pretty much stalled over the last six months, we are on the eve of the fourth round of negotiation and still stuck on those difficult first phase issues. what are we going to hearfrom first phase issues. what are we going to hear from theresa may today? probably detail on two important numbers. the first number is the severance payment, the divorce payment if you will. she will say that over the course of a transition period, we will pay up to £20 billion, the uk, that is. this means, of course, that european countries won't necessarily have to put those in, and those that receive money from the eu budget will not lose out. the second important figure is that transition, the first time the prime minister will have confirmed there will be this transition period up to two years, which would take is to around 2021. we are also talking probably today

about the prime minister's ambitions for a bespoke trade deal, not a norway deal, copying the single market without the freedom of movement, and not a canada deal, a free trading association with europe... moray bespoke deal —— a bespoke deal particularly for britain. and further guarantees burke eu citizens currently in the uk. a lot of detail we look for a two in this speech this afternoon. letter from our political editor. here on mainland europe, as at home, threats to theresa may work on many different corners. before packing her bags, she had to try to get her cabinet onside. after two and a half hours, an oh so natural display — look, we all smile and agree. is philip your new best friend? you are very united? very united. will eu leaders like what they hear in florence?

we have to wait and see. we don't have to wait for all the detail, though. the prime minister is expected to say for the first time explicitly that the uk will seek a transition deal that could be up to two years long, after we leave the eu. she is likely to signal, too, she might be ready to offer 20 billion euros so that no other country loses out from brexit. but after we leave, the prime minister will make clear again she wants a bespoke trade arrangement, not a model based on any other. remember, in the referendum, leavers promised that we would get money back, but after a visit to number ten, this prominent eurosceptic sounds completely on board with paying, if only for a couple of years. we are leaving a big hole in their finances if we just leave, and if the european union is going to deal constructively with us and reach a sensible agreement, then i think there are reasonable political

and diplomatic reasons why we should help them. but in a transition, the eu's top negotiators confirm we would have to pay and play by their rules, so there are still big uncertainties around our approach. in government circles, though, there is hope the speech can unlock the eu impasse. that is why the plans have been carefully kept under wraps. but no more secrets on this speech, on how decades of membership, ties of money, of politics, will start to be phased out. there is much still for britain to decide, though, for the eu to discuss. this is still the overture before we finally depart. we understand that ahead of this speech being delivered here in florence, the charm offensive has

already begun. we are told by downing street the prime minister spoke to the european commission president yesterday and spoke to the irish to suck to set him straight on what sort of detail. but the biggest charm offensive has been around the cabinet table. deep divisions, not necessarily over the money paid but over the final destination. what kind of brexit does the uk want? borisjohnson, who wrote that piece last weekend, and intervention we have been talking about all week. he has been running this morning ahead of the flight to florence. what does he make of the speech? good morning. are you disappointed that britain will be shelling out 20 billion to the eu? it was a great speech, i enjoyed it very much. is this what britain voted for? yes. it would appear that many brexiteers

around the cabinet are sanguine about the short—term payments that will be made to the european union. theresa may seems to have them all on board, but the payments willjust stop there, because there are other liabilities the europeans expect britain to meet, for loans they have committed two or pension payments. the pension pot is estimated at 8 billion euros but will rise over time. that was a question put to the transport secretary chris grayling on the bbc radio 4 today programme this morning and this is what he had to say. this speech will set out to our european partners that much more of oui’ european partners that much more of our ambition for the relationship we wa nt our ambition for the relationship we want you have for the future is there, setting up things we think should be part of the partnership in the future, and i hope it will create a vision that everyone can unite behind and move forward, and obviously there is a lot of negotiation ahead to do but i think we have a historic responsibility to people on both sides of the channel, two people and businesses who depend

on our partnership and trading relationship to reach a sensible agreement for the future. we understand theresa may will invite some conservatives to her country residence of the weekend for that charm offensive, to continue. they will be all ears to the speech in florence this afternoon, and standing by her in a whole not so far away, her principal ministers, the chancellor philip hammond will be here and borisjohnson will be sitting next to him and the brexit secretary david davis. we will bring you all the details as that happens. but let's speak to tim oliver, from the london school of economics. here in florence with me. he focuses on uk eu relationship. we are talking a bit about the payments. the short—term payments and the longer term payments... where do you think we will end up? the 20 billion being touted at the moment is the first bed from the united kingdom government, knowing

full well it will have to go higher, and theresa may will almost certainly not give a bigger today because that would be ammunition for the sceptics in the lead up to the conservative party conference. it is recognition building up for some time that a beggar will have to be put on the table to things bothered. longer term, it will be a much higher payment, because how long britain takes to leave the european union is not clear and will not be two years, union is not clear and will not be two yea rs, several yea rs union is not clear and will not be two years, several years longer, and are payments for pensions, and ukip meps as well. these beggars will keep rising over the next years, and thatis keep rising over the next years, and that is something theresa may needs to have... these figures will keep rising. theresa may must coax them into accepting that there is no easy way out of this. they must they said. if we get past the logjam in the negotiation, and start talking... we only have a year in negotiations to talk about future trading relationships. michael gove suggested round the cabinet table yesterday he wants a different sectors within the uk to leave at

different parts through the transition. why might that be a sensible idea? it might be sensible for the uk, but whether it is sensible for the rest of the european union is the question michael gove should be asking. the eu is clear about this, that a british exit will be on transition terms but match its needs not necessarily the needs of the uk. the uk's problem with brexit is how it is having a debate with itself about what it wants brexit to do. the transition deal, yes, for manufacturing industries and financial services industries in different phases for the uk might be good for british businesses and society, but is it good for the european union and germany and france? that is the question britain must ask. unless you get agreement from the european parliament and the different member states of the european union, where the reasons theresa may issue today, that thinking will go nowhere. it is more myopic thinking. she says she does not want a norway style model and does not want a

canadian model and want a bespoke model in the middle. michel barnier, who was here yesterday, he negotiated as the key negotiator, and said you can't have the benefit of norway and the freedom of the candidate deal. you need one or the other. —— the freedom of the canada deal. when theresa may talks about a form of new relationship in the future, a special partnership as a positive special relationship with the us, she is not clear about what that will mean but neither is the eu. the eu has not worked out what new relationship it wants with the uk departed. so there is a debate to go on within the eu about where their skills. that depends upon what happens in the eurozone and what happens in the eurozone and what happens in the eurozone and what happens in beijing in region, and british politics will have to realise that from an eu perspective... treasure map the schengen agreement. what happens there... that will shape what happens... with your uk hat on, your lse had,

you can quite understand why she is dodging the issue. . only to keep europe on baba keep the cabinet on board. but on what point will she have to spell out the line? if she did it now she could see a leadership challenge but in a year's time and if she is debated in parliament, that would create huge confusion. there is a lot of uncertainty still on both the british and european side on this. i think one thing both sides are now starting to prepare for is a real possibility of a hard brexit. never mind what theresa may want the european union wants, something will colla pse european union wants, something will collapse in the uk negotiations, including parliament and so forth, and britain will find itself leaving the eu with no plan. the eu is starting to think about this as a plausible scenario for it. it was thing for the eu and stings certainly more for the uk, but that isa certainly more for the uk, but that is a scenario both sides are starting to think possibly about. its things for the people behind you. these are the expats who live in florence, no vote, no voices, the

banner many of them carry to protest in favour of remaining. good to get your thoughts. thank you very much. we will be here in florence throughout the day. we will have our experts with us in about 20 minutes' time, norman smith will be here and kevin connolly to give us the european respect it. and we will bring you the details of the speech when it happens. 2:15pm uk temper the speech. join us then. —— pm uk time. breaking news from the last few seconds. transport for london has concluded that uber, the car hailing app, is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence. that comes to us in the last few seconds. uber with 3.5 million users in london and many thousands of drivers, has been told by tf el that it is not fit and proper to hold a

private hire operator licence. our business presenterjamie private hire operator licence. our business presenter jamie robertson is with us. what is behind the decision? beginning to get an indication this would be a decision from tfl which gives the licence to uber in order to operate in london. that licence was renewed back in may, but only forfour months. it was renewed back in may, but only for four months. it comes to an end in september. they have said, no, it will not be issued. these are the reasons, a damning report on the conduct of uber. it said mexico's approaching conduct demonstrates a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues, potential public safety and security implications. they go on to say these include... —— uber‘s company conduct. the approach to medical certificates and enhanced its closure and barring services checks are obtained... and the approach to the use of software in london... they say that software could be used

to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to the app and provide official from undergoing... from undertaking regular trade or law enforcement duties. they say it is and has been obstructive and that is and has been obstructive and that is the reason why they are not going to renew this license. and there has been a lot of opposition to govern iraq from the taxi trade which has threatened —— there has been opposition to uber from the taxi trade. but uber can appeal, cut they? they have 21 days to appeal it and we have not yet heard from uber. you said this announcement has come out in the last few minutes, so we have not heard yet from uber what it will do and whether it will appeal. we must also look at the consequences of this on taxi services. there are many thousands of drivers and 3.5 million customers. that will if the appeal does not work, one presumes there will be a hiatus after the

30th of september. it has not been made clear what will happen to the drivers or the service. but there will be a gap when those drivers will be a gap when those drivers will not be on the road. notwithstanding the appeal and what happens there, could there be other operators in a similar vein to uber who might seize the opportunity? undoubtedly there will be a huge gap in the market for people who want a taxi ride. one imagines that there will be people coming in and jumping in. there are other taxi services obviously, black cab services and so on and other minicab services, which will be jumping into on and other minicab services, which will bejumping into the gap. one imagines probably it might be leading to price rises for taxi fa res, leading to price rises for taxi fares, but also since it is a relatively free market, one imagines there will be other people filling that gap in the near future. jamie, thank you. a line from sadiq khan, saying after this ruling on uber all companies in london must

play by the rules and adhere to the high standards we expect. more on that breaking story on bbc newsroom live. now time for the headlines: theresa may on the way to florence to deliver her brexit speech, calling for the uk and the eu to make brexit work. that breaking news into us that transport for london says that uber is not fit and proper to operate in the capital. one of britain's senior police officers walkers the strain from counterterrorism operations on other areas of policing is sustainable. and in sport the most experienced of four british and irish alliance to be left out than england's training camp this weekend. the others also miss out but the 18—year—old fly— half miss out but the 18—year—old fly—half marcus smith is included. olympic relay silver medallist dan wallace lost his elite podium funding. he was suspended for three months by british and scottish

swimming after admitting drink—driving earlier this year. and scotland, katrina matthew says it will be a great honour and dream come true after being named in europe captain for the 2019 cup. and i will be back with more on those stories after 11:30am. north korean leader kimjong un has fired another rhetorical salvo at us president donald trump in the increasingly bitter and personal war of words between the two. kimjong un described mr trump as mentally deranged and said he would pay dearly for his threat to totally destroy north korea. north korea's foreign minister suggested pyongyang was considering a dramatic escalation in its nuclear test programme. translation: personally i think it should be a hydrogen bomb test on an unprecedented scale. let's stop to our correspondent danny savage in seoul. there was a

time when rhetoric from north korea could be treated exactly as that, nothing more than angry words. but given what has been going on lately with the firing of various missiles, we cannot assume that this time, can we? not necessarily, and i think what that foreign minister also went on to say is where they were planning to say is where they were planning to test and h—bomb, hinting at some in the pacific ocean. that would be truly extraordinary for north korea to be testing a nuclear device beyond their own borders. one assumes they will deliver it by missile to... or their plan would be to deliver it by missile to a location in the pacific ocean where they were detonated. that would cause a huge international incident, and potentially some repercussions for them. just because they have said it does not mean they will do it. a lot of rhetoric that comes from north korea is not necessarily backed up with actions. but the fact they are saying it has caused a bit

of alarm in this region. injapan and they are particularly upset because they were subjected to a nuclear attack, the only country in the planet that has been and they say this that is unacceptable. what is the reaction in north korea as the rhetoric heats up between kim jong—un and donald trump? kim jong—un has had strong words for donald trump today, criticising him heavily and saying it was an unprecedented attack on him. just as a reading at the direct language of insults, really... it has gone into a complete slanging match between the two at the moment. it criticises the two at the moment. it criticises the other strongly and publicly. it is significant that kim jong—un has appeared likely to deliver this later statement in person directly. normally he is quoted by north korean media. this is a direct statement, going head—to—head with donald trump. there is obviously the rhetoric when it comes to these two

key figures in this whole row getting higher and higher each time. you have the likes of russia and china and south korea are calling for calm. here in south korea they say they are still striving to a diplomatic solution. that is what everybody wants. they will not be able to start talking and till things calm down a bit, that is the view of south korea. they help the rhetoric stops and things calm down. then maybe there could be some edging towards diplomatic contact. thank you very much, danny savage in seoul. banks and building societies are to make checks on all current account holders to try identify illegal immigrants from january, stubble have dessert customer's names against a database of known illegal immigrants, supplied by the home office. financial institutions will have to report any names they discover and freeze or close the account. joining me via webcam is an editor

in chief. tell us more as you understand it how this will work. how the banks will be able to tell as they consult this database will be able to tell as they consult this data base is will be able to tell as they consult this database is centred from the home office that someone is here illegally or not? from january banks will have to check every quarter about a total of 17 million customer bank accounts to find illegal immigrants. the home office will be providing banks with a list of individuals who have been identified by them via a fraud detection agency people who are here illegally, and who need to be identified to then speak to the home office. will they just be looking office. will theyjust be looking for names or will there be other personal information there that the banks will use as a clue? they have not given great detail about that but i certainly hope it will be more than names, otherwise it is going to cause massive

confusion. there is already concerned about it, valid concerns that people could be identified wrongly by banks, because of the information provided to them. that is really going to be the next piece of the puzzle, how the home office, cfas and the banks properly identify people at wrongly say people here illegally went they have every right to be here. a number of organisations are expressing concerns based on the home office record, that it cannot be trusted to run this without problems. is there a significant risk? a risk that people who are here legitimately in the uk may well be wrongly identified? already banks have to check people when they open a new bank account, so that process should hopefully be robust, and certainly between now and january, i would imagine the home office and cifas at the banks themselves will be doing everything they can to minimise the chance that

anybody could be identified incorrectly. there are analyses to major people even if they are in that with the list provided by cifas that with the list provided by cifas that they still have funds to allow them to live. the advice says that banks should still be allowed to do that and they should not freeze people's bank accounts to leave them with nothing. there are also allowa nces for with nothing. there are also allowances for joint accounts, which are more complex. hopefully people will not lose out because of this, and it will all work smoothly, but i really hope that is the case and that it all goes as is the plan. if the government thinks this is a useful method for identifying people who are here illegally, it is perhaps likely surprising that they have not been ordering these checks before now, isn't it? potentially but this is part of a raft of new measures being brought in. they are also looking at making landlords responsible for making

additional checks. also the driving licences for things like people wanting to drive taxis there, there will be additional checks. it is pa rt will be additional checks. it is part of a number of measures being introduced, but the hope is that the majority of people will not be impacted, and it is only those individuals who have already been identified as the home office wanted to speak to them... that they will be impacted by this. baggy very much, hannah. —— thank you very much. the mexican president says people may still be buried alive in the ruins of ten buildings in mexico city, after tuesday's devastating earthquake. across the country 273 people are known to have been killed. our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan has the latest. the rescue effort is in full force here in mexico city. close to a0 buildings collapsed in the earthquake on tuesday. this building is in the fashionable la condesa district, which is nicknamed "hipster town", it is normally home to fashion designers, millennials and artists. this operation at the moment

is a rescue operation. the marines and the armed forces here believe there are people inside and they're trying to make contact with them. as you can see, there are a lot of people and a lot of machinery as well working at the rubble. a lot of it is manual work, people passing bits of the rubble hand to hand to remove it very carefully because it's a precarious operation. international assistance has also arrived here. the israeli government has sent help and they're actually involved in this particular rescue operation. while people wait, there are doctors on stand—by as well ready to treat anyone who is rescued and who comes out. periodically this place falls silent. people put their hands up and they are told to be silent while rescuers try to call out to people who they believe are trapped in the rubble.

it's not just officials who are helping with the rescue efforts here, many of these people are volunteers giving up their own time and pitching in to try and rescue as many people as they can. the atmosphere here is very intense, it's one of anticipation. people are still hopeful that many more people will be found in the rubble alive. manchester will lead a new wave of bee research seeing bees connected to the internet. our reporter has this. behind this fire station in stockport, some bees are about to get connected. an australian scientist leading the monitoring project is fitting them with a chip which will allow them to be tracked. we are using superglue and what we will do, we will pick up a tag, find a friend. it does take some time.

and it takes a little bit of practice to get technique. jini not find it hard but i struggle to fit a tiny backpack onto a bee. some of these desperately want to be tagged. and now the bees will be counted in an out of the hive. we understand more of the behaviour when they leave the hive and when they return, who they are travelling with, we are identifying individual insects which we have not been able to do in the past. cisco has recruited beekeepers across greater manchester to take part in the programme. one hope is the data will give greater understanding of what keeps bees healthy. it's very difficult to look inside the hive and know what is happening with an individual bee so by tagging in individual bee, you get to know how long it lives. the bees are a number of things being connected to the internet including trams, and rubbish bins.

it is part of the internet of things and it's supposed to provide data to make the city smarter. what you have is a live feed from the centre of manchester. in the government—funded smart city project, all sorts of internet devices and these are being monitored across manchester. benjamin disraeli said on the 19th century, what people do today in manchester, the rest of the world do tomorrow. this is about making it true for the 21s century. and the bees are part of that. they are, it's a real problem to be solved for everyone in the world. we only managed to get about half a dozen bees looked up at over the coming months, thousands will be at work, providing data which could make manchester a healthier and smarter city. just a reminder before the weather

of breaking news from the last few minutes. transport for london has ruled that uber, the car hiring app is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence. uber has responded by saying it intends to immediately challenge tfl. that decision from tfl in the course, there are 21 days to lodge an appeal but uber says it intends to immediately challenge the ruling in the courts. it has about 3.5 million customers in london. tens of thousands of drivers as well. but tfl said it believes uber is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence. more on that coming up. now the weather. you may have felt chilly this morning, temperatures got down to low single figures. the first day of

astronomical autumn, it is the equinox today. we had a bit of mist and fog around today. currently it still sits down in the valleys with the peak district but for many, lots of sunshine. the sunshine gradually being eroded away from the west and outbreaks of rain moving into western areas of england and wales, into scotland. after the rain this morning across northern ireland, it will dry morning across northern ireland, it willdry up morning across northern ireland, it will dry up with a bit of sunshine. this evening, all of this cloud, there will —— it will not be as cold as last night, temperatures in double figures. that means for saturday morning it is quite cloudy. a bit drizzly in central areas but it will gradually move northward, and sunshine across southern whites. sunshine also in the far north—east of scotland. top temperatures about 17 to 18 or 19 degrees. sunday will be warm across eastern parts with the best of the sunshine here. again, further west, more cloud and outbreaks of rain starting to move on. temperatures here about 15 to 18 degrees. this is bbc newsroom live.

the headlines: the prime minister will set out her vision of a future relationship with the eu in a speech in florence this afternoon. theresa may is expected to offer it to continue paying into the eu for up to two years after brexit, a sum believed to be worth around £18 billion. transport for london announced the minicab app uber will not be issued with an operating licence after its current deal expires a week on saturday. uber say they will challenge the decision. police chiefs are facing very ha rd decision. police chiefs are facing very hard choices as resources are increasingly focused on counterterrorism, once the head of scotla nd counterterrorism, once the head of scotland yard. all the latest on theresa may's

keynote speech in florence from christian fraser in a few minutes, but here is the sport. chelsea have agreed to sell diego costa after 20 league goals last season as they went on to win the premier league title. you may have thought he would be integral to manager antonio conte's future plans. however it has become one of the most acrimonious departures in recent premier league history. he had a bust up with his fitness coach and there was talk of a spain international being lowered by a big—money offer from china international being lowered by a big—money offerfrom china but he stayed to help chelsea win a second title. but it seems the damage was donein title. but it seems the damage was done in the summer break. the player says he received a text message from antonio conte saying he was not in his plans. he claims he was treated

like a his plans. he claims he was treated likea criminal his plans. he claims he was treated like a criminal in the transfer window with chelsea asking too much to tempt potential suitors. koster refused to return to london having been given extended time off and remained in his native brazil. chelsea have agreed terms for the tra nsfer of chelsea have agreed terms for the transfer of him to athletic hope madrid. nigel pearson has been named the head coach of belgium second—tier side. king powering the national owns both clubs, meaning pearson will again be working with the thai owners who sacked him from leicester in june of 2015. the thai owners who sacked him from leicester injune of 2015. west ham will auction all much worn shirts from this we can's game with profits going to —— money going to victims of the earthquake in mexico. it will

aid the relief effort in mexico city and the surrounding areas. four of this summer's british and irish lions have been left out of an english training camp to be held in oxford this week. james haskel is the most experienced player to be excluded along with fellow forwards george cruise and carol sinclair. jonathanjoseph george cruise and carol sinclair. jonathan joseph misses george cruise and carol sinclair. jonathanjoseph misses out, however 18—year—old fly—half mark as smith isa 18—year—old fly—half mark as smith is a surprise inclusion. eddiejones will name his squad for the autumn international at the end of next month. he has done very well, played very well for his club. well enough to warrant selection our training squad. is he a feasible english international? he is feasible of holding the boots and cleaning the bikes —— holding the bags and cleaning the boots. we want him to learn game, be respectful of the players, earn his stripes and if he does that, he will be in a position to play for england. olympic relay

silver medallist dan wallace has lost his elite podium funding. he was suspended for three months by british and scottish swimming after admitting drink—driving earlier this year. scottish commonwealth champion ross murdoch has had his funding restored after encouraging performances at this summer's world champion chips. the brushstroke champion chips. the brushstroke champion lost his funding last year after disappointing at the rio olympics. that is all the sport were now. just before we go back to florence, donald trump has been tweeting about kimjong—un. donald trump has been tweeting about kim jong—un. the rhetoric donald trump has been tweeting about kimjong—un. the rhetoric ramping up again after the north korean leader kimjong on again after the north korean leader kim jong on described again after the north korean leader kimjong on described president trump as mentally deranged, and this is the us president's response. well, certainly a war of words. we can go back to our top story. the

prime minister is about to deliver, this afternoon, that major speech on brexit in florence, where she is hoping it will unlock the situation for the next stage of negotiations. let's go to christian fraser, who is in the city. i'm feeling rather lucky today. there can't be many better cities than this. florence is looking resplendent in the sunshine today. we are in the palazzo, lots of people milling around in the copy shop and bars. very italian way of life this morning. some people scratching their heads as to why she is here. i think it is a jolly good idea. so do most of the british media who have come here to see her. most will be in the audience this afternoon. some people asking the question i've been asked all morning, why is she here in florence? when you look at it, perhaps the choices were quite narrow. she couldn't go to did germany because they have their

election this weekend. she couldn't really go to france because she might be accused of splitting france and germany. similar story with eastern europe. italy was an obvious choice and we are told that when she makes this a speech today she will say that florence is a city known for its historical trading power, a city that taught us what it is to be european. what is going to be in the speech? let's get some analysis with our reality check team will this speech comes a few days before the fourth round of negotiations on brexit and over the summer one thing has become clear. the biggest problems in those negotiations at the moment is money. even though they say you should never reveal your cards to la, there has been a lot of talk about what the prime minister might offer to try to break the impasse. the key issue is probably this. transition. what mighta probably this. transition. what might a transition period look like immediately after the uk leaves the eu at the end of march 2019? if the uk suggests a two—year transition

that replicate a lot of its current eu membership, that will give it more time to set up, among other things, new customs and immigration systems. then it could continue making roughly the same net payments into the eu budget as it does now. i bit more than 10 billion euros, about £9 billion a year after you have taken about £9 billion a year after you have ta ken account about £9 billion a year after you have taken account of the british re bate have taken account of the british rebate and money the eu spends in the uk. that would buy some goodwill because the eu's long—term budget ru ns because the eu's long—term budget runs in seven year cycles. the current one lasts until the end of 2020, so a two year transition could ta ke 2020, so a two year transition could take care of the net amount of around £18 billion. that the uk has already promised to pay. there will be no immediate hole in the budget for others to fill. it makes money one of the better cards in the uk's hand because the eu is relying on british gas to grow cash at least for a couple of years after brexit. but don't be fooled into thinking that that would be that. the rest of the eu wouldn't accept it as a final

settle m e nt the eu wouldn't accept it as a final settlement because they don't see paying to maintain our current role in the single market during a transition as the same thing as settling past debts. there are plenty of bills that the eu says the uk has to deal with. there's the uk share of money that's been formally committed but not yet paid, a bit like a credit card. a current exchange rates, the total outstanding bill is currently more than £210 billion. that makes the uk share more than 25 billion. then there is a uk share of the eu pension pot. british civil servants have been working for eu institutions for more than a0 years. that is roughly another £8 billion which the rest of europe expects the uk to cover. and there is more. so even if mrs may does make what might be seen in london as a generous offer, to get talks moving, it won't be the end of the story. and it really is touch and go whether enough progress will have been made before an eu summit in october, to allow the negotiations to move on to consider the outlines of a future trade deal.

at the moment, it looks unlikely. good detail, thank you for that. theresa may is travelling here with perhaps the main figures in her cabinet. boris johnson and perhaps the main figures in her cabinet. borisjohnson and philip hammond and david davis, the brexit secretary. the real political heavyweights are already here. let me introduce you to northern smith. and also our europe corresponded, kevin connolly. we have an agreement broadly in the cabinet, norman, about the money and we are going to get the first words today about the transition. nothing about the really important thing, the final destination. we are told there will be greater clarity about the final destination but i think that points to what is really the sort of maybe critical weakness in mrs may's speech, which is detail. how much actual detail will we get in these key areas such as money? eu nationals? finaltrading arrangement? on eu nationals,

overnight downing street saying mrs may will have more to say. so far nothing definite briefed out on the money side, no figure from mrs may although we can kind of work—out it is going to be around 18 billion. on the final destination, all the signs are mrs may will simply reiterate the desire for a bespoke agreement. all that is a little bit vague and the question is whether there is enough nitty—gritty detail, specific commitments, for the eu to be able to say, ok, you've made enough progress. now we can move to the second stage of negotiations. progress. now we can move to the second stage of negotiationsm progress. now we can move to the second stage of negotiations. it is that the sake that michel barnier, is pretty sniffy about a bespoke deal. i think he is. the european point of view is that they have no desire to tie themselves up for years in negotiating a complicated bespoke arrangement for the uk. you could have a deal like norway or switzerland have or are like canada does. a lot of this goes back to the

issue at the heart of the european energy which is sometimes not properly understood in britain which is when theresa may says, as she may well do today, let us together be creative and flexible to get out of this possible situation, the european view is very much that it isa european view is very much that it is a difficult situation of britain's own making and therefore it is of britain to show the way out, to show it is ready to make the gesture is to find their way out and that brings you back to britain's tactical problem. it has got to do enough to show the europeans it is prepared to pay the money, make the necessary erasures or transition. but the british side doesn't want to play its best negotiating cards like an amount of money. what they regard as the start of the negotiating process. that money is tight to the idea we will still be in the single market through the transition. if we are still in the customs union, we have to be able to negotiate our own trade deals, otherwise at the other side of the transition we still have that cliff edge. we will not be in

the customs union or single market. we are hoping for a customs union which gives us the freedom to negotiate our own trade deals, we hope. that is part of the difficulty, i think. hope. that is part of the difficulty, ithink. there hope. that is part of the difficulty, i think. there are still so many unresolved areas here. when you look at the sort of ructions we have had just to agree a package that we would like to put to the eu in terms of transition, this is just to get to a two—year transition phase, never mind the himalayan heights of trying to agree a final destination. one of the things i think is interesting is that this idea of a bespoke deal in a way is all things to all people. it enables misses me to keep all sides. at what point does she have to choose? then she would be challenged. if she does it in she would be challenged. if she does itina she would be challenged. if she does it in a year and is defeated, that would be chaos. not now. mrs may is pretty much going step—by—step, not just in terms of brexit but in terms

of her own premiership. each day is another little victory for her. she doesn't want to engage in a gargantuan question about, where will this all end? were she to do so, she would risk igniting potential backbench euro from the likes of boris johnson potential backbench euro from the likes of borisjohnson at one end or philip hammond on the other. at the moment, she has this all things to eve ryo ne moment, she has this all things to everyone position of a bespoke deal. perhaps as you go along people get used to the idea on the remain side and the european side. i have a lovely morning this morning. i've spoken to lots of different nationalities, lots of people. everybody that i spoke to this morning said, the thing we really hate about brexit is the fact we might not be able to go to britain. that is partly because it is an accessible idea. a lot of europeans are used to borderless travel, travel without passport. not quite that simple visiting the uk which is outside the schengen area, but it is pretty easy and is a bankable benefit of being in the eu. it is something people want to keep you

don't give a thought to fisheries policy or trade policies or what it means to be tied up in a customs union. it is an observable everyday feature of european life and that is interesting when you talk to ordinary europeans. these b—2 european politicians about all this, the people who've been listening to theresa may in paris, berlin, warsaw. when they hear talk of the bespoke arrangement it sets alarm bells ringing because you are going to come back to the rooted determination, the one thing that really unifies the eu, which would stay as united as it is now for ever. the one thing that really ties them together is that you are not going to be better off out of the eu than you were in it and you are not going to be able to have your cake and eat it. a politician in warsaw says, do the parent yourself. get a piece of cake, eat it and see if it is still there. you don't still have it. that will be what they are looking for in theresa may's speech. an attempt to make leaving the eu better than staying in it. speaking of cake, there will be comment on

twitter saying, look at all the bbc crews there. it is an important speech and i know that because i am looking around and there are european cruise here. everybody sees this as an important occasion. european cruise here. everybody sees this as an important occasionm european cruise here. everybody sees this as an important occasion. it is important not just in this as an important occasion. it is important notjust in terms of breaking the deadlock, but if mrs me fails to move the process forward, then inevitably been no deal scenario becomes much more feasible. u nless scenario becomes much more feasible. unless these negotiations begin to pick up speed, we are in a very, very tight time frame of about a year. the less time there is to agree a trade deal, the more the possibility buyer is no deal and we simply fall out. that is a massive, massive step and i suspect many in the business community would be thoroughly alarmed at that prospect. indeed. norman, kevin, we willspeak to you through the course of the day. thank you very much for the moment. the italian papers are covering the comments of michel barnier this morning, talking about that time frame. six months has

gone, he was six months to be able to get it ratified by the european parliament, the british parliament and the european council. he says from this day we have just one year to negotiate that future trade relationship, which is why this speech will be so important. we will bring its alive at 2:15pm. more and i were breaking news and the taxi at uber says it intends to immediately challenge a decision by london's transport regulator to not renew the firm's track private hire licence. transport for london say the firm osnabruck conduct demonstrated a lack of corporate responsibility which could have potential public safety indications. if it -- potential public safety indications. if it —— ten won says it will appeal immediately. let's get reaction now from the centre of the gmb union's professional taxi driver. hejoins me via webcam from west london. your thoughts on this? a number of taxi

firms and unions have been rather concerned about ten won's success. let's just say to start with, i represent private hire and taxi drivers for a portion of the uk. there are a lot of unhappy people but there is a concern about a0,000 drivers. not all of them full—time, i must say. based on what ten won have been saying over the years. the reality is these people have the need to have worked and we have to bear that in need to have worked and we have to bearthat in mind. need to have worked and we have to bear that in mind. whoever they go to has to be ethical in their behaviour. tom eldridge, the general manager to remind you of ten won is saying that tfl and sadiq khan have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice. do you think 3.5 million people who use ten won's at currently will think that is precisely what this decision is

about? restricting consumer choice? i don't know necessarily that there are that many people necessarily using the application. i would say those are potentially aggregated. the reality is that a lot of people have questioned the efficacy of this company. obviously tfl have looked at certain things and decided that if they are not fit, not rights, then theirjob as a regulatory body is to look after the public. that is thejob of a is to look after the public. that is the job of a licensing authority. however you play at... however you play it, they are the arbiters here, not a company who obviously wants to operate within their own rules and by omission of eight destructive company, i understand it is nice for the consumer, but when you are playing cut prices for things, it is a lwa ys playing cut prices for things, it is always nice, but the reality is that prices have been artificially

suppressed and whilst there are some drivers saying it is wonderful... let me put you very quickly... steve, let me put this to you quickly because we are running out of time. one of the reasons for tfl saying that uber cannot continue to have this private hire licence is its approach to how enhanced disclosure and dds checks are obtained and everyone who gets into a cab wants to know they are safe. the response from uber is that it's drivers go through the same enhanced dvs background checks as black cab drivers. is that true? there is the question of the 13,000 who were not given the full enhanced jack, which is why tfl have had to write to them and say, within 28 days you have to get a new check or you will be suspended. this is trying to skirt the rules. it has failed. sorry, this interview is squeezed but we

wa nt to this interview is squeezed but we want to fit in our business news, as well. thank you very much. let's get on with the business news. let's get on with the business news. let's recap on that. transport for london says uber will not be issued with an operating licence after the current deal expires. the date will be september 30. tfl has concluded the mini cap application is not fit and proper to operate in london due to concerns that have public security and safety obligations. uber has 21 days in which to appeal the decision. what is your reaction? this is a courageous decision by transport for london because for some time now, serious concerns have been raised about uber‘s business practices and i think the evidence shows that uber is an unfit and

improper regulator partly because of the regular tory breaches that tfl have set out today in its statement. partly because of the damning criticism from the metropolitan police about how uber has been handling allegations of rape and sexual assault in their vehicles. it speaks to a wider issue about the way in which some companies behave towards their own workforce. uber has to be dragged by the courts —— through the courts to recognise basic employment obligations towards their drivers in terms of treating them fairly. i think they have had plenty of that notice. i think they have got away with it for too long and they have had a grip at the heart of number ten when david cameron was in play and that is why it has taken so long. let's move on to what is going to happen to the people who drive the cars. until the appeal process has gone through, they will continue to work and the system will continue to work. however, if uber loses licence and clearly, that is 1a,000 drivers without a job. —— a0,000.

clearly, that is 1a,000 drivers without ajob. -- 40,000. it clearly, that is 1a,000 drivers without a job. -- 40,000. it may not be as many as that and people who drive the vehicle is also have other jobs sometimes. i am also concerned about their employment prospects, not least because i will have uber drivers in my own constituency. i think the responsibility for this lies with uber and uber alone. what can they do? they are employed at the moment that would be able to after they lose their licence if they lose it. uber, i think, after they lose their licence if they lose it. uber, ithink, has a responsibility firstly to abide by the rules of the road and i think they have clearly failed to do that, which is why this decision has been reached. they also have a responsibility to make sure their drivers are adequately financially compensated. this is a very large multinational corporation operating across the world and let's just imagine that tfl reached a different decision today because, as the arguments go, they employ a lot of people and are very popular with lots of londoners. what we would be doing is sending a message that there are some companies that are

too big to fail, some multinational corporations we want to take on and if you employ people you are allowed to flout the rules. it is no good, not least because londoners' safety has to be paramount when making the decision. thank you. a quick look at the markets. waiting for that speech in florence from the may. also the other big elements have been in asia. political tensions in asia over the threat of a hydrogen bomb test which north korea has threatened. actually have a positive effect onjapan in particular and also on switzerland, rather indirectly. it is all because of safe haven bats. in times of crisis, times of danger, people put money into safe haven currencies such as the swiss franc and,

surprisingly, the japanese yen. the japanese yen rose and we sell a lot of japanese stocks fall as a result of japanese stocks fall as a result of that. very often they are seen as disadvantaged when the yen rises because their exports become more expensive to foreign buyers. that hasn't fled to an acrobat through to the european markets. all of them up at the moment and the euro fairly stable. we have seen the pound rising against the dollar, at 1.36, which is seen over the last month and particularly over the last week or so as we have got this idea of higher interest rates in the uk. all that speeding through to the stronger pound against the dollar specifically. the euro not quite so much. that's the business news for now. we will have more later. thank you very much. for many chefs winning a michelin star is considered the pinnacle of their career. but renowned french chef sebastian bras has asked to be stripped of his prestigious three stars.

he says the pressure to earn them again every year at his restaurant in the village of laguiole, in southern france is proving too much of a strain. he would like his kitchen to be liberated. just asking to return the stars doesn't mean that they will automatically be removed from the guide. michelin are considering the request. first time i have heard of a resta u ra nt request. first time i have heard of a restaurant asking to be liberated! coming upfor a restaurant asking to be liberated! coming up for you at 12pm, much more on theresa may's speech in florence this afternoon. also continuing coverage of the breaking news from the last hour on the decision by transport for london to say it won't renew uber‘s licence in the capital. uber says it will immediately challenged this decision in the court. it has around a0,000 drivers. ina court. it has around a0,000 drivers. in a moment, we will say goodbye to viewers on bbc two, but first we leave you with a look at the weather forecast. this morning we had quite misty and

foggy conditions. the sun has just come through where we have had that fog and this scene here, that fence is not on fire, it is just the steam coming off it. the moisture as that warm sun hits the fence. for many, lots of sunshine. towards the west, we have more cloud, outbreaks of rain moving through. the rain will clear from northern ireland rain moving through. the rain will clearfrom northern ireland so it will become drier and brighter this afternoon and we hold onto the sunshine across the far south—east. temperatures up to about 17 to 19 degrees. with all the cloud around the night, it won't be anywhere near as cold as last night. temperatures staying up in double figures. it means that for saturday, quite a cloudy start to the day. outbreaks of rain and drizzle across central areas. that will push northward into the afternoon so there will eventually be some sunshine across the far south. a few sunny spells also developing in the far north—east of scotland, as well. during sunday, dry, bright and warm in eastern areas but towards the

west, more rain moving in. this is bbc news. i'm christian fraser live in florence. the headlines at 12.00: theresa may is on her way to florence, with a message that the uk and european union both have a responsibility to make brexit work. if things move on to the next stage, we want to see a proper basis established for the future trading relationship, for partnerships in areas like security. we want to see things move forward well. in a speech in the city she is expected to propose a two—year transition deal, costing about £18 billion, ahead of a permanent trade deal. we will have the build—up from here in florence ahead of the important speech from 2pm this afternoon. there will be a live broadcast at 2:15pm. i'm annita mcveigh. also coming up this hour: transport for london rules that uber are not "fit and proper" to operate in the capital. uber say that will appeal the decision. one of britain's senior police officers warns the strain

for counterterrorism operations on other areas of policing is "not sustainable". in an unprecedented personal statement, the north korean leader, kim jong—un, describes president trump as "mentally deranged". trump responded describing the north korean leader as a madman. from next year, banks and building societies will have to carry out checks on all current account holders to establish if they are in the uk illegally. good afternoon and welcome to florence. the city is looking splendid today, the birthplace of

the renaissance. plenty people in the renaissance. plenty people in the square here, the cafes are a fool and lots of tourists at this time of year. all of them have a view on brexit. some surprise to theresa may is here in florence but all of them hopefully paying attention to what she is about to say ina attention to what she is about to say in a few hours' ten, hoping it brea ks say in a few hours' ten, hoping it breaks the deadlock in the brexit negotiations on the eve of the fourth round of negotiations beginning on monday. of the first six months of the brexit togs, but enormous mound of progress has been made. what is she likely to say in this speech? she is certainly going to talk about a transitional deal for the first time, a two—year deal that would begin at the end of this negotiation on march 2019. this could include the transition period, payments of up to £18 billion or 20 billion euros into the european budget. that bosch satisfy some europeans in the short because those countries who chip in bob taft to

chip in more. those who receive continue to receive what they would receive under the budget. she will talk about a bespoke a trade deal, and some europeans are sniffy about that, wanting her to choose a norway model canadian model. but she will give further guarantees to eu citizens currently in the uk. a lot of people in florence, lots of europeans saying the biggest concern about brexit is they won't be able to come to the uk in the future or need a visa. these are important things for people to hear. i said earlier that sometimes we talk about these important occasions too much but this is an important speech and the europeans are paying attention. letter from our political editor. here on mainland europe, as at home, threats to theresa may lurk in many different corners. before packing her bags, she had to try to get her cabinet onside. after two and a half hours, an oh—so natural display — look, we all smile and agree.

is philip your new best friend? are you united in the cabinet? very united. all behind this speech. will eu leaders like what they hear in florence? we'll have to wait and see. we don't have to wait for all the detail, though. the prime minister is expected to say for the first time explicitly that the uk will seek a transition deal that could be up to two years long, after we leave the eu. she is likely to signal, too, she might be ready to offer 20 billion euros so that no other country loses out from brexit. but after we leave, the prime minister will make clear again she wants a bespoke trade arrangement, not a model based on any other. remember, in the referendum, leavers promised that we would get money back, but after a visit to number ten, this prominent eurosceptic sounds completely on board with paying, if only for a couple of years. we are leaving a big hole in their finances if we just leave,

and if the european union is going to deal constructively with us and reach a sensible agreement, then i think there are reasonable political and diplomatic reasons why we should help them. but in a transition, the eu's top negotiator‘s been firm we would have to pay and play by their rules, so there are still big uncertainties around our approach. in government circles, though, there is hope the speech can unlock the eu impasse. that is why the plans have been carefully kept under wraps. but no more secrets on this speech, on how decades of membership, ties of money, of politics, will start to be phased out. there is much still for britain to decide, though, for the eu to discuss. this is still the overture before we finally depart. 0f

of course it has been a difficult week for theresa may, given the intervention by the foreign secretary boris johnson intervention by the foreign secretary borisjohnson last intervention by the foreign secretary boris johnson last week and the headlines that followed. i understand yesterday they were shown the speech by the first time and many including philip hammond got their first read of it and got half an hourto sit their first read of it and got half an hour to sit and study it, and then there was an opportunity for all of them around the table to put in their thoughts. some of it is still being tinkered with and finished but when it is delivered, we think any few hours' time, most of the cabinet will be on board with the key points, principally the money. it would seem the foreign secretary is sanguine about what is being promised in the short term. to move towards that transition... he has been out for a jog like most mornings ahead of coming to florence this afternoon, so what did boris johnson have your say? let's listen. good morning.

are you disappointed that britain will be shelling out 20 billion to the eu? it was a great speech, i enjoyed it very much. is this what britain voted for? yes. isaid he i said he was sanguine about the money in the short term. of course, this £18 billion we talk about is only really the first step because there are things called contingent liabilities. the loans and pension payments the europeans expect britain to continue paying towards. the pension pot for... just at the moment it's around 8 billion euros but will rise over time, so the final payment people talk about could be way above 20 billion euros. chris grayling the transport secretary has spoke to bbc radio a this morning, he was a prominent brexiteer, and what is he is think about those future payments? this speech will set out to our european partners much more of our ambition for the relationship we want to have for the future, setting up things we think should be part of the partnership in the future, and i hope it

will create a vision that everyone can unite behind and move forward. obviously there is a lot of negotiation ahead to do, but i think we have a historic responsibility to people on both sides of the channel, to people and businesses who depend on our partnership and trading relationship to reach a sensible agreement for the future. let's get the thoughts of our assistant political editor norman smith, here in florence. one commentator said yesterday theresa may is resolutely walking a wobbly straight line. is that a fairly good description of what is going on? a high wire act, because on one hand she must try to reach out to other eu leaders, but at the same time she looks at the other side and must not inflame the tensions within her cabinet, and at the same time the electorate is watching to see whether she will deliver on exit. it isa whether she will deliver on exit. it is a torturous path. but the

priority now is to try and get those brexit talks going again because if they don't get going, then the prospect of getting a deal recedes and we move into no deal country. there is a premium on reaching out to eu leaders to show we are serious, and to do that, mrs may must enter with details. it is not enough to say, here i am in florence, a lovely setting, i share european ideals... warm words don't cut it any longer and there must be specific proposals they can pick up on. that is the great conundrum and will this signal, a signal we will be prepared to pay up to 18 billion is over two years, be enough, and will this so far and clarified proposal to offer further reassurance to eu nationals also be sufficient? we don't know. we don't know whether eu leaders will say, actually, that does not go far enough, no. whether they will say, yeah, she is moving, we can move as

well. gavin barwell has been involved in the shuttle diplomacy this week, hearing bits and pieces go back and forth... there has been a reshuffle bringing people over from the brexit secretary's office. is she wanting to leave from the front now i does that pushed david davis a bit further behind? i think there is a sense that theresa may knows her political future and fate, call it what you will, the state is it is intimately bound up with brexit. perhaps inevitable she seeks to call the process back into downing street. in normal times on a treaty of this scale it would be downing street who push the process board. i think that is true. what has been striking is in many ways theresa may has never really moved in this whole turmoil of the past week or so, she has never really budged on the idea that, yes, we could do a two—year transition period and pay for it,

but no more. that is despite people like borisjohnson saying, forget the idea back payments for access to the idea back payments for access to the single market. he stuck to game plan a. discount it also what the chancellor said, because he tends to get off scot—free. he is also trying to mould it in his direction. gig will be interesting as well what she says about this bespoke deal. bespoke deal is in some ways a cop out, in the sense that she knows the brexiteers want something pretty much like the deal that canada has come a free—trade agreement with very little ties to the eu. people like philip salmond are much more inclined to something like norway or switzerland, where you have access to the single market, but there are ties. but also regulations you must stick to... there are things like eu light. it is bugged by saying bespoke mrs may can almost leave both sides thinking she is talking about what i'm poking about with actually...

without putting anything specific on the table. it keeps everyone happy at westminster. when you come back to the central problem, are the details there to reassure eu leaders, are they going to be convinced and given a clear sense of where we are actually heading? what we are prepared to pay and what we are going to do about eu nationals? those are the sort of key pitch points where she must give real detail. thank you, norman. good to get your thoughts. europeans are watching intensely. michel barnier, the eu's chief negotiator was in rome yesterday speaking to members of the italian senate, and he said time is upon us. we have had six months without much progress and from here we have one year to talk about that future trading relationship, before the european parliament, the british parliament and european council must ratify it. this is a really important speech today, and the reaction of the europeans will be critical. thank you very much. we will be back

in florence later shortly. and we will have full coverage of theresa may's speech on the bbc news channel from 2pm. now here, our breaking news today, taxi app uber says it intends to immediately challenge a decision by london's transport regulator to not read new the firm's private hire licence. transport for london says the firm has demonstrated a lack of corporate responsibility which could have potential public safety and security implications. uber has 21 days to appeal, during which it can continue operating. our business presenter is here. he has been looking through the reaction from this. firstly, the san francisco —based uber operates in more than 600 cities around the world. has it been the subject of a band like this are decision not to renew its private hire licence anywhere else?

the volume of business, 3.5 million users a week. a0,000 drivers. a big operation in london. very important. it is also from a reputational point of view, very important that they held onto it and important they continue to try to hold onto this license. as you say, they have 21 days to appeal. they have said will appeal. the drivers will stay in circulation even as the appeal goes through and won't actually get... it will be decided to take them off the road whether or not, until they get the appeal‘s result. let's look at the detail of tfl‘s reasoning for the decision. a number of reasons including four main point. take us through those. one by one. and how is uber responded? element reporting criminal offences, one of the things that tfl has fallen down on. mexico says, our pioneering technology has gone further to enhance safety... —— uber says, the

pioneering technology has gone further to report on these things. also the problem on medical certificates being obtained. uber does not come specifically back on that but tfl criticises for aid approach on how enhanced disclosure and barring services as the betting of drivers and criminal checks are obtained. company mack says drivers who use uber are licensed by transport for london and have been through the same enhanced background checks as black cab drivers. finally, transport for london criticises it for its approach to explaining the use of the software which uses in london and it says it could use that software to make it difficult for authorities to check up difficult for authorities to check up on whether it is obeying the rules. or abiding by up on whether it is obeying the rules. orabiding by the up on whether it is obeying the rules. or abiding by the rules... uber in response says an independent

review found that that app has never been used or considered in the uk for purposes cited by tfl. a robust statement from tfl and a robust response from mexico and it will end up response from mexico and it will end up in the courts, as we explained. many thousands of drivers... —— a robust response from birth. three and a half million using it app in london. —— response from uber. what is the response by those passengers? in many ways, uber‘s reputation has not been exactly untarnished. there have been problems with the company at the head office, but also down further downstream, actually in terms of reporting sexual offences and the rest. it has not got the best possible reputation. on the other hand it is cheap. on the other hand it is used a great deal. as uber says, uber operates in more

than 600 cities, including more than a0 cities in the uk. it is closing innovative companies to bring choice to consumers... 3.5 billion —— million londoners who use the app will be astounded by the decision. on the other hand, i think people feel that it may give an opportunity for other companies to come in. there are other companies who would like to take the place of uber, and so many people would be regarding it asa so many people would be regarding it as a market opportunity. if it were to pull off a cliff and suddenly we had an end to this service, if the appeal was quashed quickly, then i think there would be a lot of people looking around for taxi drivers who weren't there. thank you very much. it is time for sport. let's catch up with the latest. hello there. hello and good afternoon to you. sorry about that.

the summer's british and irish lions have been left out of the england training squad in oxford this weekend. james haskel is the most experienced player to be excluded, along with fellow fort george cruise and kyle sinclair, and centre jonathanjoseph. and kyle sinclair, and centre jonathan joseph. missing out, 18—year—old fly—half mark is smith isa 18—year—old fly—half mark is smith is a surprise inclusion amongst the 33 names. eddie jones is a surprise inclusion amongst the 33 names. eddiejones names his squad for the autumn internationals at the end of next month. he has done well and played well for his club. well enough to warrant selection in this training. is hea selection in this training. is he a visible england international this or some? a feasible player. he is visible of doing this. he is a young kid coming through, an apprentice and we are treating him like an apprentice. we wa nt treating him like an apprentice. we want him to learn the game and learn to be respectful of the players around him and earn his stripes, basically. if he does that he will be in basically. if he does that he will beina basically. if he does that he will be in a position to play for england. the former leicester city manager has been named the head coach of

eldon's second—tier side there. pearson will once again be working with the owners who sacked him from leicester in june 20 with the owners who sacked him from leicester injune 2015. west ham will auction all of their match wore shirts from this we can's london derby against tottenham hotspur with all proceeds going to victim's families and survivors of this week's earthquake in mexico. the clu b week's earthquake in mexico. the club will double the figure raised by the auction before donating the total amount to an appeal organised by their striker have they are hernandez and his fellow mexico international may calljd relief effort in mexico city and surrounding areas. relay silver medallist dan wallace lost his elite podium funding and was suspended for three month by british and scottish swimming after admitting drink—driving earlier this year. scottish commonwealth champion ross murdoch had his bull budding restored after encouraging performances at this summer's world jackiejudge. the performances at this summer's world jackie judge. the european performances at this summer's world jackiejudge. the european one elite podium funding last year after a

disappointing rio olympics. scotland's katrina matthew has been appointed your‘s captain at gleneagles in scotland. matthew has played a league club nine times for europe against the gadget state and ta kes europe against the gadget state and takes over as captain for sweden forum anneka, having previously served as vice captain. that is all the supporter now. a full round—up at1:30pm. let's go back to the story on uber, transport for london has ruled it will not reissue a private hire operator licence to the car hire app company operator licence to the car hire app com pa ny after operator licence to the car hire app company after the expiry of its current license on the 30th of september. that is next saturday. the company is appealing and will be running during that appeal. we can't talk now to andrew teacher, the managing director at blackstock pr, which advises corporate clients on consumer and media relations. we

thank you forjoining us. we have heard as i was saying to our business presenter, a robust statement from tfl and an equally robust response from uber. what do you think will happen next in this dispute? clearly relations between the two have not been easy for a while. it is an astonishing corporate... an astonishing attack on the corporate values of uber today. this has not just appeared overnight. a long time coming, and as you referred to earlier on, there have been a number of grapes around uber‘s reputation. its conduct and various allegations of activity that does not present them in the best light. i think there are three considerations to come out of this. clearly, this is going to go to court and probably go back and forth for a while. but this is going to massively affect consumer choice in london. 3.5

million people use goober and the likelihood of around a0 odd thousand people depend on it. the reality is people depend on it. the reality is people have become quite hooked on uber, on the cheap taxi rides provided. but cynics and critics would argue that this is at the expense of quality, at the expense of fairness, because in order to get the massively cheap fares you can get at quite times. what you're doing is creating masses of inefficiencies by having loads of drivers hanging around the streets, clogging up the roads, these drivers are technically on contract, getting paid not a lot of money. —— they are technically on 0—hours contract. critics are bringing this up. as well as issues are undertaking criminal deeds highlighted in what tfl said today. the issue of corporate responsibility is hugely important and this is an astonishing attack, as you say, on the corporate values of uber. but when you look at the

list of concerns tfl has, clearly these are concerns that must be addressed, like the approach to the criminal background checks that it does on would—be drivers. its approach to reporting serious criminal offences, now... uber has a response to all of these, but would you agree that this is the right path for tfl to go down... given that it has been under threat from some unions and taxi firms, saying that they would take tfl to court if it granted uber a renewal of its private hire licence. yellow that there is a lot of background looking that has been going on by both sides... background lobbying. the board question over here whether this decision by tefl which has been is overseen by sadiq khan, the labour mayor of london. some would see tfl's mayor of london. some would see tfl‘s action as a political stab at a formerjesting partner, george

osborne, the movement by sadiq khan, against george osborne who now added the london evening standard newspaper. osborne has been a adviser to blackrock, the asset management firm, an investor in uber. some would potentially be questioning today whether the labour mayor decision to effectively ban uber isa mayor decision to effectively ban uber is a dog at his former political rival. interesting to see what the standard comes out with in net additions. to answer your question, tfl to some degree is dammed if it does and dammed if it doesn't. if at some point there is a serious assault are serious criminal issue that occurs, people will be asking questions around why it has not answered regulations. what uber must focus on doing is being more transparent and engaging its consumer base and robustly answering these questions, and it can do that, and if it can, then tfl will not

have much of a leg to stand on in continuing with the band. we leave it there. thank you very much. one of britain's most senior police officers has warned the huge counterterrorism effort is placing a train on other areas of policing thatis train on other areas of policing that is not sustainable. the head of the national police chiefs council argues that more funding is needed to maintain day—to—day policing. here is, first correspondent. five terror attacks in britain in six months. security experts say it isa six months. security experts say it is a sound of a shift in a threatening terrorism which could ta ke threatening terrorism which could take 30 years to eliminate. it poses a big challenge for the police service. now one of britain's most senior officers has spoken out about the need for extra funding. writing of the national police chiefs council website, sara thornton said counterterrorism policing budgets are being cut by 7.2% in the next three years. it is said by heard

thatis three years. it is said by heard that is a real concern, given the alarming volume and nature of the threat. she says the pressure this creates is not sustainable because there are fewer resources overall. particularly in neighbourhood policing. one thing we absolutely value as pa rt one thing we absolutely value as part of our fight against terrorism is having neighbourhood police officers out there in neighbourhoods building relationships, talking to the public, picking up bits of information and bit of intelligence. if we do not have that footprint and we are very worried that that has produced over the last two years, we will not pick up that information, but just as importantly, will not pick up that information, butjust as importantly, we will not have a really important relationship with the public. the home office says it is sensitive to the pressures on police forces and is in discussions with them about the problems. but there are also fresh concerns about whether there are enough firearms officers, and a new survey is expected to show growing support among police or more to be trained to use weapons. danny is with me now. just a guess

you what your thoughts are on where the policing budget will go and how that money will be divided between counterterrorism policing and a two—day on the beat policing. eleanor is separate under counterterrorism policing is around £700 million per year. sarah thornton claims it is going down by 7% by 2020. the government has not actually dismissed the fact that claim, but it is saying there has been no official and as bit about what future funding there will be. the point she makes is that where that but was set in 2015, that may have looked ok, but now with a spacing much greater threat, five attacks this year, six thwarted plots this year, there is a shift in the threat. separate to that is the money for basic casework, mainstream

police work, of which there has been a lot of dispute about. it has been frozen since 2015 and police forces are saying that is not enough and they need more funding. the threat from terrorism spills over into mainstream policing, and what sarah thornton has had to say today has been supported by the metropolitan police, who have been speaking on bbc radio. we are already feeling some strain. i have some tired people and they are very focused. they are highly motivated and desperately want to stop the attacks. but it is bidding a strain on the system. we also have calls, emergency calls and crime going up nationally and in london over the last year, and it is putting a huge strain on the system already. we are engaged, sarah and i and others, any conversation with the government about our funding. cressida dick there. she is saying and sarah thornton is saying that this pressure is not sustainable.

after a ll this pressure is not sustainable. after all of those terrorist incidents you allude to, and the plots that have been thwarted, there has been a survey in the last hour that more people would support officers, police officers being armed, presumably that would require an even bigger policing budget. this a server by the police federation of england and wales in the gut responses from about 32,000 police officers, about a quarter of the total. a big survey. it shows growing support for routine arming of all police. that is every police officer carrying at least a sidearm or another weapon routinely as they go about their work. it has gone up to 3a%, so over one third of officers would like to see routine arming, and that is a jump from 23% when the survey was last conducted in 2006. only a minority, a small minority, 6% say there is enough and capacity in the police service at the moment. that would be quite

alarming to government ministers. there is a review going on by senior officers, led by sarah thornton, looking at the arms capability and capacity of british police, and that is likely to recommend more officers need to be trained and issued with firearms. that review is likely to have that recommendation. there will be no move to routine arming of all police at the moment. there is no support amongst senior officers or i don't believe government circles either. it would fundamentally alter the character of british police. thank you, danny. a man and woman have been charged with murder after a body was found badly burned in south—west london. police say they have so far not been able to establish the victim's age or gender. helena lee is at wimbledon magistrates‘ court. remy up—to—date. wimbledon magistrates‘ court. remy up-to-date. it was a very short

hearing, lasting forjust three minutes or so here at wimbledon magistrates‘ court. both defendants appeared together. they stood up for the hearing and spoke briefly to confirm names, dates birth and addresses. they confirmed they lived at the same address. they have both been charged with murder. the first defendant, a man, a0—year—old, has been charged with the murder of an unknown victim between the seven september and the 20th of september. the second defendant, a woman, a 3a—year—old, she has also been charged with the same offence on or before the 20th of september. that was around 6:30pm on wednesday this week that police officers were called to a flat in southfields to reports of a fire. when they got to the flat, they went into the back garden and found a badly burned body. they say it wasn‘t so badly

burned they have yet to be able to identify whether it is a female or a mailand identify whether it is a female or a mail and also the age. they are now working to try and find out who the victim is. they also say early indications suggest that somebody tried to dispose of the remains. both defendants here have now been remanded in custody and have both been told their next court appearance will not be here but will be at the old bailey on 26 of this month. thank you. let‘s get the weather. mixed weather fortunes again today although most of us will see some sunshine as we go through the afternoon. a band of rain has been pushing eastwards across northern ireland and that is working in western scotland and cumbria where it will be quite heavy. the rain rather patchy already across wales and south—west england. these areas will stay damp. central and eastern england stay dry and there will be

some sunshine coming out in northern ireland as we go through the next few hours. overnight, the dregs of the weather front will bring cloud across england and wales. milder night, some clouds low so we could have missed over the hills and thick enough to give us and spit or spot of rain. clear skies for northern ireland and scotland. this weekend, reasonable weather prospects. reasonably warm. a band of rain working in for sunday. saturday, starting off rather cloudy. thick enough for an odd spit of rain but it will break up as the evening two they go through. most of us seeing some three afternoon. relatively mild temperatures, 17 in glasgow and belfast but with sunshine with such is the highs of low 20s towards london and the south—east. this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines at 12.30. the prime minister will set out her

vision of a future relationship with the eu in a speech in florence this afternoon. theresa may is expected to offer to continue paying into the eu for up to two years after brexit — a sum believed to be worth around £18 billion. transport for london announces the minicab app uber will not be issued with an operating licence after its current deal expires a week on saturday. uber say they will challenge the decision. police chiefs are facing "very hard choices" as resources are increasingly focussed on counter terrorism — warns the head of scotland yard. let‘s go back to our top story. the prime minister‘s speech in florence in nearly two hours. my colleague christian fraser is there. the key question, as you wait for that speech in that beautiful city, is whether it can unlock the

negotiating process. that is the critical issue. i think perhaps at the beginning of the week people we re the beginning of the week people were scratching their heads as to why she is coming here to florence. maybe the europeans were not paying much attention, but given this backlog of unanswered questions that there are in the negotiation, the logjam that we have with the fourth round upon us on monday will stop suddenly the europeans are taking a keen interest in their lots of cameras here from the european networks with some prominent figures in europe saying, we are all the yea rs, in europe saying, we are all the years, what do you have? this might be the most critical speed theresa may has delivered since the election. joining me now from westminster is conservative mp for croydon south, chris philp. he campaigned for the remain side. i am sure you have spoken to your collea g u es am sure you have spoken to your colleagues and know some of the elements that will be in the speech. what do you make of it? it will move the debate forward which we need to do. one of the crucial points is whether we can now move forward to discuss the free trade agreements or arrangements after we leave the eu.

up arrangements after we leave the eu. up until now, we have not been able to even talk about free trade because michel barnier has refused to do so and that is due to get revisited in october and it is extremely important that we started talking about free trade. notjust for the uk‘s ‘s sake, it is important for us but also for european countries. france and germany and italy and so on and in particular industries like the german car manufacturing industry. we are their biggest export market. we are their biggest export market. we need to get the european governments and european industry groups, like those of german car manufacturers, the now put pressure on the european commission to get on with those free—trade talks. not because they want to do us a favour but because it will have jobs in industry in their own countries. we have been putting up on the screen today this figure of £18 billion, 20 billion euros. that is an upfront payment. are you really talking about a much biggerfigure payment. are you really talking about a much bigger figure than that when we take into account the loans

and pension pot that europeans expect us to pay for? we're talking about two different things. if we have transitional arrangement and none of us have read the speech so we will find that in a couple of hours what the prime minister actually says, it maybe there are some payments during the transitional period which may or may not be separate to settling the liabilities for leaving like those pension contributions. david davis had a discussion or debate on those exit liabilities in early august and the european commission presented him with some thoughts and he was able to go through that list and explain in frantic detail why some of their requests were not legal and not justifiable. we may of their requests were not legal and notjustifiable. we may or may not be talking about two different things. the speech in a couple of hours will clarify that. it shows the uk is serious about these negotiations, has a genuine vision for how we will leave the eu and we needed to get on with those free—trade talks and the failure to do that will damage european

countries just as much as it will damage us and i hope the european governments start saying that forcefully to the european commission. before i let you go, quickly on if the. . . the decision taken by quickly on if the. . . the decision ta ken by transport quickly on if the. . . the decision taken by transport for london not to renew goode‘s license. taken by transport for london not to renew goode's license. an awful decision. sadiq khan has made a terrible mistake. b .5 million londoners benefit from low fares. the people this will affect the most, people on low incomes, who maybe can afford a uber there to get around but not a black cab fare. at the time we are dealing with the brexit discussions, the last thing the mayor of london should be doing is sending a signal that london is not open for the free market and is against innovation, which is the signal his decision sends. i agree that uber has some problems it needs to fix like fixing every single criminal allegation that they hear

about but banning uber in london is about but banning uber in london is a terrible mistake and bad for 3.5 million londoners. i think sadiq khan should reverse his decision immediately. ok, we will get better reaction later. thank you for your thoughts. we‘ll stay here and wait for the speech. two away from theresa may delivering the speech and critical is the response we will start to get from around europe. will it be enough to shift the backlog there has been in this brexit negotiation. we will bring you that speech live at 2:15pm. let‘s get some analysis of the key issues that could come up today in that speech, with cris morris from the bbc‘s reality check. this speech comes just a few days before the fourth round of negotiations on brexit and over the summer, one thing has become pretty clear. the biggest problem in those negotiations at the moment is money. even though they say you should never reveal your cards to la, there

has been a lot of talk about what the prime minister might offer to try to break the impasse. the key issueis try to break the impasse. the key issue is probably this. transition. what might a transition period look like immediately after the uk leaves the eu at the end of march 2019? if the eu at the end of march 2019? if the uk suggests a two—year transition which replicates a lot of its eu membership, that will give it more time to set up among other things new customs and immigration systems. then it could continue making roughly the same net payments into the eu budget as it does now — a bit more than 10 billion euros, so about 9 billion pounds per year, after you‘ve ta ken account of the british rebate and money the eu spends in the uk. now that would buy some goodwill because the eu‘s long term budget runs in seven year cycles — and the current one lasts until the end of 2020. so a two year transition could take care of the net amount of around £18 billion that the uk has already promised to pay — there‘d be no immediate hole in the budget for others to fill. it makes money one of the better cards in the uk‘s hand, because the eu is relying on british

cash at least for a couple of years after brexit. but don‘t be fooled into thinking that that would be that. the rest of the eu wouldn‘t accept it as a final settlement, because they don‘t see paying for market access during a transition as the same thing as settling past debts. and there are plenty of bills that the eu says the uk has to deal with. there‘s the uk share of money that‘s been formally committed but not yet paid, a bit like a credit card. at current exchange rates, the total outstanding bill is currently more than £210 billion, which makes the uk share more than 25 billion. then there‘s the uk share of the eu pension pot — british civil servants have been working for eu institutions for more than a0 years. that‘s roughly another 8 billion pounds which the rest of europe expects the uk to cover. and there‘s more. so even if mrs may does make what might be seen in london as a generous offer,

to get talks moving, it won‘t be the end of the story. and it really is touch and go whether enough progress will have been made before an eu summit in october, to allow the negotiations to move on to consider the outlines of a future trade deal. at the moment, it looks unlikely. chris morris from reality check. more now on the uk‘s counterterrorism effort and the unsustainable strain it is putting on policing according to the head of the national police chief ‘s counsel. joining me now is david jamieson, the west midlands police and crime commissioner. good afternoon. good afternoon. are you seeing this unsustainable strain on policing in your area? we certainly are. we see it around the country. what sara thornton has said today, the country‘s most senior police officer, she has confirmed the government‘s own financial plan says two shows a 7.2% reduction in

funding over the next four years. theresa may denied that figure in june at prime minister‘s questions. she needs to revisit that because if this becomes... comes about it could lose 1000 officers nationally. in my case in the west midlands, we will lose about one in ten of those people currently working on counterterrorism. you want to protect that, protect day—to—day policing services. paying for us a picture of how that strain is manifesting itself. when we had the threat level taken manifesting itself. when we had the threat level ta ken up to manifesting itself. when we had the threat level taken up to critical recently, that was costing the force here about £100,000 extra per day. the period was longer than just the critical period, as well. those costs remain. we stopped doing

neighbourhood policing in that time. those people in neighbourhood policing are doing preventative work and doing intelligence work, some of which is related to counterterrorism. the other thing the government have done, when they have moved on counterterrorism, what they have done is taken that money away from mainstream policing, so we have lost the funds in the west midlands and across the country for the valuable neighbourhood policing that all adds to the counterterrorism effort. so you stopped doing neighbourhood policing during that period, and as well as the financial strain are you talking about the physical and mental strain here on officers, as well? there is no doubt that some of the officers who are putting in long hours, when we went to critical, there was working 12 hour shifts without a day off and a break. that has a price on it, as well and we are having to rest some of those offices, meaning there are fewer officers doing response and other duties that they should. what is the solution? is it

unavoidably more money in a scenario where you are being told, really, there isn‘t much more money around? the government have to address this seriously. they are killing people, putting more money into a counterterrorism when they are not all stop the recent pay rise they announced, welcome though it is for offices, that is underfunded. in my case, another £3 million that comes out of my budget that doesn‘t pay for more officers. we need the government to address this seriously and say if we are going to lead this counterterrorism, we need to support the terrorism officers, we have to support the other officers who work in support of them and the government has got to fund that and stop telling us that they are putting the money up when in fact they are putting it down. thank you very much. the headlines at 12:a5pm. theresa may is on her way to florida to deliver her brexit speech, calling for the uk deliver her brexit speech, calling forthe uk and deliver her brexit speech, calling

for the uk and the eu to make brexit work. the app —based taxi service uber is the loses rights to operate in london after decision from transport for london. tim won says it will appeal. one brit‘s most senior police officers was the strain from counterterrorism on other areas isn‘t sustainable. trading is now underway in the usa. almost 70% of women who are on a powerful epilepsy drug have not received new safety warnings about the dangers of taking it during pregnancy, according to a new survey given exclusively to the bbc. it is estimated around 20,000 children

have been harmed by the medicines in the uk alone and many mothers were say bye dish back row were never warned. been in the house a lot lately or going out at all? joe was taking sodium valproate when she decided to have children. her son is autistic has being harmed by the drug. she says she was not warned of the dangers. i am extremely angry that when i went for the diagnosis, there was people in the health authority that knew about all of this and i was not told, i was not given that information. ifi if i had been, iwould have if i had been, i would have acted on it. sodium valproate is an effective drug for epilepsy and bipolar disorders. but it carries a risk. early last year, the uk medicines watchdog launched a new safety

information packs to be given to women in gp surgeries, hospitals and pharmacies, but today‘s survey suggests, of almost 500 women recently polled who were on the drug, almost 70% had not received these vital warnings. they come too late for the thousands of young people like thomas, harmed by the drug. the uk medicines watchdog says the results of the survey were important in helping it understand the effectiveness of the measures taken to date. it said it was important women did not stop taking valproate without first discussing with their doctor. thank you for talking to us this afternoon. why do you think it is that women have not been made fully aware of the risks surrounding this medication, in spite of efforts by

the medicine and health care regulatory agency to raise awareness? i think it really comes down to one simple fact and that is that, although the issues around sodium valproate have been well known for many years and the materials are available, brand—new materials, are available for women of child—bearing age with epilepsy. despite all of that, it is clear that an awful lot of people are still not receiving the information. the reason we believe is because this is a process which is identified within guidelines and within protocols but it is not a monetary requirement for health care givers to provide this information to their patients and we believe the only way we will bring those numbers right down to zero is to make it a mandate it requirement that this information is provided to women of child—bearing age through preconception counselling and that they are informed and kept up—to—date on a regular basis. they are informed and kept

up-to-date on a regular basis. that is quite a standing when you look at the cases in sophie‘s report and other cases we have highlighted here at the bbc news. the level of risk that has been identified, as well. is the uk actually behind other countries in this quest mark i believe in france, for example, alarm bells have been raised earlier than in the uk. be information about sodium valproate has been well—known for many years. more information is coming to light as more research is done into this particular subject. in the uk, we have an epilepsy pregnancy register which has been tracking women with epilepsy and through the pregnancies and subsequently to see what happens to them and their children. that is an agency register that has been reproduced in other parts of the world, not just europe, reproduced in other parts of the world, notjust europe, and there is plenty of information coming from all over the world about the effects of sodium valproate. has legal

action —— legal action has been taken in france, anything simile here? your macro there is interest in that area. there are people who have been affected who believe they do have a case. there are people increasingly who are becoming concerned enough that they think something needs to be done and i think it shows you the desperation in many ways and the anger and frustration that so many people have about this, the fact that this information has been known but has not always been passed on effectively. thank you very much. more and more parents are being asked to make payments to support their child‘s school. that‘s the conclusion of research by the parent teachers association and bbc breakfast. it found that more than a0% of parents in england, wales and northern ireland had been asked to donate money, with payments averaging around £10 a month, as jayne mccubbin reports. many parents here at st aidan‘s primary in london

are hacked off. you couldn‘t afford to pay, even if you want to do? no, i couldn‘t. zoheir is being asked to do what more and more are asked, making a regular donation to support their child‘s school. if we need to fund the school it is private, not public. no resentment or anger? no. a bit cross with the government they are not funding the schools but not with the school. there is sympathy for the school here. headteachers across the country say they are facing an unprecedented funding crisis and today a poll for bbc breakfast shows more and more are asking parents to plug the gaps. a2% said they have been asked to mcgregor contributions to their child‘s school, but there are regional variations, just 61% in london and 25% in the east midlands. all those figures were up slightly before. that is a cut so we had to lose that role.

head teacher ann etchings says she has lost four support staff already and she wants to use donations to protect funding for the team she has left. we have the same number of children in the school so it has an impact on the support we can provide the children and puts more pressure on the staff who are here. the head of governors has asked parents to pay whatever they can afford. not an easy decision, she says, but essential. weren‘t there other options or other ways? we had already looked at every single line of our budget. we felt it was morally very difficult but we are in a crisis. in northern ireland, education budgets are being cut. while in england and wales, they are spending more per pupil in cash terms but after inflation, even schools here face cuts in real terms. the fact is our schools are facing

a funding crisis which is a scale which can‘t be solved by parents having a whip round. it‘s not a sustainable or equitable way to fund our schools because there will always be schools in areas where the parent community cannot make these payments. whether or not parents give a helping hand is down to parents. no state funded school can demand regular payments but some fear where this trend will end. the department in westminster told us no parent is required to make a contribution. charges here as elsewhere are voluntary but some fear where this growing trend will eventually end. we are worried this is going to become the new normal and we don‘t like that. for many chefs winning a michelin star is considered the pinnacle of their career. but renowned french chef sebastian bras has asked to be stripped of his prestigious three stars. he says the pressure to earn them again every year at his restaurant in the village of laguiole, in southern france is proving too much of a strain.

sarah corker reports. perched above the aubrac plateau, in southern france, the food at le suquet is inspired by the forests and meadows nearby. critics describe sebastien bras‘s food as spellbinding, but the celebrated chef is walking away from the ultra—competitive world of michelin—star cooking. the pressure to satisfy the food inspectors has proved too much. translation: well, we have been carrying these stars for ten years but for a few years now, we have been saying to ourselves, but for how long will we continue to have this tension felt every day? for how long? do we want this until the end of our career? the chef announced the news in this facebook video. he wants to be dropped from the famous red guide so he can start a new chapter in his life. the chef is famed in france for his gargouillou — a mix of up to 80 vegetables,

hearbs and flowers. herbs and flowers. his is one of only 27 french restaurants in the elite three michelin star club. the guide describes it as "our highest award" given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession. mr bras‘s decision has shocked some in the culinary world, reigniting a debate, in france, over the pressures faced by top chefs. translation: the offer is not going to change. i even think my kitchen is going to somehow feel liberated, open—minded, more relaxed. just asking to return the stars does not mean michelin will automatically remove the restaurant. it says it will consider the request. but mr bras says he wants to be free to cook in serenity. sarah corker, bbc news. ina in a moment the news at one. first, the weather.

for the uk focused at the moment but first we are after the caribbean to catch up on the latest on hurricane maria. it is working towards the turks and caicos islands. we haven‘t got and turks and caicos islands. we haven‘t gotandi turks and caicos islands. we haven‘t got and i now visible in the central of the storm. a lot of the cloud is lopsided. this is a dying croquet which will come close enough to the islands to bring hurricane force winds so there could be further localised damage but probably not on the scale of what they are dead. over recent days here we have seen active weather fronts moving off the atla ntic active weather fronts moving off the atlantic bringing heavy rain to northern ireland and western scholars bullfrogs have died as they bumped into high pressure that such to our east across scandinavia and europe. exactly the same thing will happen today. we have already seen heavy rain this morning across northern ireland, that heavy rain working in the western scotland and cumbria, and further south, you can see the rain band fragmenting so the rain becomes lighter and patchy across wales and south—west england

and the sale to the same will happen across scotland and north west in with. that leaves central and eastern england would largely dry weather and sunny spells and the sunshine coming out in northern ireland as the cloud and rain clears three. overnight tonight, the dregs of that front will bring a rather cloudy night, so i‘ll denied for england and wales, a few patches of rain around, clearest guide to the north and west weather could be fog patches and it will turn cold in the countryside across the northwest. the weekend, we will all see some sunny spells, but perhaps taking a while to come through. it will become quite warm but we will have rain coming ourway become quite warm but we will have rain coming our way the western area since sunday. saturday, quite a bit of cloud bursting, lower over the hill so misty, patches of rain possible over hills. the cloud will break up, sunny spellss spells coming through. highs of 20 degrees in the sunshine. windy conditions across the north—west of the uk and should not a few holes in the cloud, so 17 in glasgow and belfast not bad at all. saturday night sees rain moving across northern ireland, west

scotla nd moving across northern ireland, west scotland and the front becomes slow moving across the western side of the country with the rain again becoming that bit lighter and probably more patchy in nature as we go through the afternoon. across central and eastern england, more sunshine and potentially higher temperatures. a possible high of 23 degrees and northern ireland will brighten up as we go through sunday afternoon. the prime minister prepares to deliver her keynote speech about britain‘s departure from the eu, in florence. theresa may is expected to propose a two—year transition deal, costing £18 billion, which it‘s hoped will break the deadlock in negotiations. we want things to move on to the next stage. we want to see a proper basis established for trade and security. so we know we want to things to move forward and well. i'm here in florence, where the prime minister is hoping her long—awaited speech will be well received in europe and at home. we‘ll have the latest live from italy.

also this lunchtime. the taxi app uber won‘t have its licence renewed in the capital. transport for london says the firm isn‘t fit and proper to operate. uber says it will appeal.