this is bbc news, and these are the top stories developing at 11: the prime minister is speaking to the leader of the dup, arlene foster, on the phone. as the british government tries to salvage a brexit deal. the brexit secretary admits for the first time the government has not carried out any formal assessment of the impact of leaving the eu on the different sectors of the economy. automotive sector? no, not that i'm aware of. is there one on aerospace? no. one on financial services? i think that answer's going to be no to all of them. no to all of them. the white house says donald trump will today break with decades of american policy and recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. a man is due to appear in court this morning over an alleged plot to kill theresa may. also coming up: tens of thousands of people flee from the path of wildfires in southern california. hundreds of buildings have been destroyed by the blazes and several

thousand homes are under mandatory evacuation. france's biggest rock star johnny hallyday has died after a battle with lung cancer. good morning. it's wednesday the 6th of december and i'm ben brown. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the prime minister has just been speaking on the phone to the leader of the democratic unionist party in northern irealand to try and salvage a deal on the future of the irish border. but arlene foster has also said in a newspaper interview her dup party will not be rushed, even though the deadline is looming if the uk wants to move on to crucial trade talks with the eu. meanwhile, the government has

admitted that it has not carried out so—called "impact assessments" of how leaving the eu might affect the british economy. appearing before the brexit committee this morning, david davis claimed it would be hard to predict the economic effects of brexit, but said officials would do the work "at some stage". our assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. let us talk about those talks on the phone between theresa may and arlene foster. a short phone call we gather? some relief but at least a phone conversation has taken place because there was a lot of hope that they would at least have spoken to each other yesterday, it did not happen for another day to pass without any phone call would be a pretty ominous sign. so at least they are talking. it is quite clear when you speak to those around arlene foster that they are in no hurry. i was talking to one dup

person this morning and he said to me that we are talking about issues which will matter for generations to come. so it is important we take our time to get this right. so they are not in any hurry to meet the timetable of the eu council next week. that is a problem for mrs may because she has to get a shift on if she is to nail down a deal by next thursday because the danger if she does not is she gets pushed towards simply having to walk away without a deal and already some key tories are saying to her, if dublin is not going to back off, then you have got to think about calling it a day and leaving without a deal. meanwhile, we have heard from the brexit secretary david davis today and he was questioned about this idea of impact assessments on the different sectors of the british economy of

brexit and he said there had not been any impact assessments. let mejust give been any impact assessments. let me just give you a brief reminder, remember last week there was a right old guha after david davis refused to hand over what were thought to be 58 separate assessments of the impact of brexit on different areas of the economy. he was hauled before the committee and this morning he said to them, there are not any. you could almost see the labour chairman of the committee hilary benn‘s mouth dropping open that these assessments had not been done. mr davies said we are aiming foran had not been done. mr davies said we are aiming for an overarching trade deal, we do not want to get bogged down with all these individual assessments and it would take up an awful lot of work, what i've given you instead is 850 pages of sectorial analysis of the impact on areas of the british economy. he was then asked, have you read any of those? i was given two chapters but

no, idid those? i was given two chapters but no, i did not read itand by those? i was given two chapters but no, i did not read it and by the way, some of the work was not very good. already a number of the labour mps on the committee are saying this isa mps on the committee are saying this is a staggering dereliction of duty but just have is a staggering dereliction of duty butjust have a listen to the opening exchanges between hilary benn and david davis. so, there is not one for the automotive sector. no, not that i am aware of. aerospace? no. ithink automotive sector. no, not that i am aware of. aerospace? no. i think the a nswer aware of. aerospace? no. i think the answer is going to be new to all of them. does it not strike you rather strange given its fronts around the committee that you have, the gum and undertakes and —— the government undertakes and —— the government undertakes impact assessment on the fundamental change we are taking of the country, your have dogged the garment has not taken any impact assessment that all. the first thing

to say, mrchairman, assessment that all. the first thing to say, mr chairman, is when the sectorial analysis, they were done to understand the effect of various options. what the outcome will be. you do not need to do an impact assessment, for more impact assessment, for more impact assessment to understand that if there is a regulatory hurdle between producers and the market, they all have an impact, they will have an effect. why he has got into hot water over this is because the idea that there might be 58 impact assessment seemed to come from him in the first place in previous television interviews over the summer, but i suspect it will provide ammunition for the government's critics to argue that not nearly enough thinking and preparation and detail has gone into the planning of our departure from the planning of our departure from the eu. mr davies is saying we are focused on getting this overarching

trade deal, that is what we're looking at and i think you said at one point that if they had to compile all these different impact assessments, it would take ten and 50 yea rs of assessments, it would take ten and 50 years of civil service time and he simply did not have the resources about. norman, many thanks indeed. norman smith. let us get more on the phone call between the prime minister and arlene foster, chris page canjoin us arlene foster, chris page canjoin us from belfast. chris, what more you hearing about that phone call? we gather it was pretty short and that arlene foster is say i do not wa nt to that arlene foster is say i do not want to be rushed on all of this. yes, i think that is the message we are getting from the dup. arlene foster and theresa may have spoken by phone. yesterday, arlene foster was invited to talks in london with the prime minster which he decided not to travel. we understand there are no plans i had to travel to london today either. i do not think

the phone call is an indication that a breakthrough, a significant breakthrough is imminent. it is a sign of conduct between the dup and the government are continuing. we get a sense that the dup are not going to be bounced into anything on this. yesterday the deputy leader, when he spoke to reporters, he was very careful to say that the dup we re very careful to say that the dup were going to work for as long as necessary to make sure that everything was right. the dup do regard all these issues around brexit, particularly the possibilities they would see as any arrangement a room would result in a separation of northern ireland of the uk in trading terms and political terms as a very fundamental point for them and they are certainly not going to be rushed. not going to be rushed, you get the feeling that they kind of sense they are in the driving seat on this. they have all the cloud. that is right, they are maximising their influence. they are aware of the cards but they have. there have been

others looking at it a different way and saying it came down to a face—off between the dup and the government, with the dup really withdraw their support and then risk a general election? the dup said yesterday, again, in the form of nigel dodds, that they did not think it would come to that, that they would continue to work with the government, very good discussions with them and they did not think the government will go down the route of trying to impose something that would separate politically and economic in northern ireland from the rest of the uk. another subtle bit of pressure on the gum, the dup will be focusing very strongly on the wording of any draft agreement. the problem they had with the agreement on the table was this phrase continued regular tory alignment, matching up on routes between northern ireland and the irish republic. they know from their long years of experience the value of analysing every word, weighing

every word and trent understand how every word and trent understand how every word and trent understand how every word will be interpreted. i think it will be about finding some form of words that will address the dup's concerns, there will be no new barriers between northern ireland and the rest of uk while same time addressing the irish government's concerns that there has to be guaranteed there will not be return of border post on the island of ireland. it is not an easy task. thank you very much indeed. news coming in and man has been remanded in custody accused of a plot to kill the prime minister. this is naa'imur zakariyah rahman, who is 20 years old, he has been remanded in custody accused of that plot to kill theresa may in a bomb and knife attack on downing street. be much about the police had been

saying he would appear in court and also another man, mohammed aqib imran, 2i, accused of trying tojoin islamic date. we are hearing naa'imur zakariyah rahman, aged 20, has been remanded in custody, accused of a plot to kill be prime minister ina accused of a plot to kill be prime minister in a bomb and knife attack on downing street. more from our correspondent as it comes into its abbey court. —— as it comes into us from the court. the white house says president trump is to break with decades of american policy on israel and is to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. he's also due to begin the process of moving the us embassy tojerusalem from tel aviv, a process which may take several years. already middle east leaders have condemned the decision and warned of grave consequences. in the past hour, the pope reacted, calling forjerusalem's status quo to be respected. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. donald trump is venturing into uncharted territory. the president will recognise

jerusalem as the capital of israel, making the us the first country to do so since the foundation of the state in 1948. he has already indicated that he intends to move the american embassy to jerusalem from tel aviv and he has informed regional leaders of his plans. the reaction has been heated. the palestinian leader mahmoud abbas has warned of dangerous consequences for the peace, security and stability of the region and of the world. jordan's king abdullah said the decision would undermine efforts to resume the peace process and provoke muslims. saudi arabia's king salman told mr trump the relocation of the embassy or the recognition ofjerusalem as israel's capital would constitute a flagrant provocation of muslims all over the world. the status ofjerusalem goes to the heart of israel's conflict with the palestinians. political observers say the president is treading a fine line between acknowledging a historic reality and alienating the palestinians.

israel's intelligence minister has said the country is preparing for every option, including an outbreak of violence. us citizens have been warned by the state department to avoid areas with crowds. britain is among a number of countries to have expressed concern. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, gave his reaction. let's wait and see what the president says exactly. but, you know, we view the reports that we have heard with concern because we think thatjerusalem obviously should be part of the final settlement between the israelis and the palestinians — a negotiated settlement that we want to see. and we have no plans ourselves to move our embassy. that is boris johnson.

with me is firas khatib — from bbc arabic. what has been the reaction? donald trump called the palestinian president and told about his decision to the embassy to jerusalem, the capital of israel. they called for three days of rage, the conflict, the heart of the conflict is very dangerous to be there. we are talking about one of there. we are talking about one of the most problematic point in a negotiation between palestinians and israelis. you have from the examiner quad, the turkish president who threatened to cut diplomatic relations with israel and he also

said the problem, it is not the problem of palestinians, the problem of the islamic world, they did not say exactly what happened with the phone call the king got from president trump. however, they oppose the recognition ofjerusalem as the israeli capital. just explain to us from the arab point of view, this decision if we do get this from the white house today, how will that affect the peace process in the middle is? first of all, two things here. the problem is not that the united states is recognising jerusalem, it is the mitigation between the palestinians and israel. the united states played a big role in the peace process. when donald trump says druce is the capital, it means he is biased for the israelis side.

——jerusalem he is biased for the israelis side. —— jerusalem is the capital. britain and france, they do not recognise jerusalem as the capital, so the thing is, the arabs and the palestinians in a way, they felt i hope to continue the peace process because america does not recognise it and because america does not recognise itand in because america does not recognise it and in 1974, when the israeli prime is the backbone, you promised us prime is the backbone, you promised us to recognise the rights as the capital, he said what i see from the other room, from the white house, i cannot see from outside. you should be passengers about it, i am not going to do it right now. it is very problematic. this sort of recognition, not recognition of the embassy, recognition of the jewish history injerusalem, embassy, recognition of the jewish history in jerusalem, it embassy, recognition of the jewish history injerusalem, it is very problematic to accept it. do you think arab leaders all surprised by this decision? donald

trump has talked about this before. maybe it has been in the pipeline. but people in the region surprised it has come to this? donald trump chose the right timing and now, fragmentation of the arab states, they are busy with yemen, syria has her own problem. a lot of destruction. —— serves. distraction. they welcome donald trump's announcement. i think we should wait and see but now according to donald trump the situation is not that good and the timing, even with the fragmentation of the arab states,

still problematic. thank you very much for being with us. thank you. the headlines on bbc newsroom live: the prime minister husband speaking on the phone to arlene foster as the government tries to salvage a brexit deal. the brexit secretary david davis admits for the first time the government has not carried out any formal assessment of the impact of leaving the eu on the different sectors of the british economy. the white health says donald trump or break with decades of american policy and recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. let us go to the bbc sports centre and find out what is going on. we will run through quickly top stories transport. england go two down in the ashes.

the batsmen are blown away as australia bowl them out for 233 to wind by 120 runs. 22 russian athletes are going to the court of arbitration for sport to challenge the decision by the international olympic committee to disqualify them from next year's winter games. and serena williams is planning on entering the australian open injanuary — four months after giving birth. the 36—year—old won the melbourne event injanuary for a seventh time while in the early weeks of pregnancy. that is all the sports news for now. we will see you later on. let us stay with that theme. russia has been banned from taking part in next year's winter olympics in south korea following an investigation into systematic doping at the 2014 games. individual athletes will be allowed to take part if they can prove a doping—free background, but must compete under a neutralflag. the deputy speaker of the russian

parliament has called the ban a "humiliation and an insult". 0ur moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg has been looking at the reaction to the decision — reported in russia's morning newspapers. well, the russian government paper doesn't hold back today. it says that with its monstrous decision, the ioc has broken the main symbol of sport, the olympic rings. it goes on to talk about political games, it talks about a planned attack on russian sport. it criticises attempts to make out that russia is the source of evil in russian sport. it talks about a crazy soap opera and it says they are spitting in ourface, the paper says, by trying to make russian athletes compete without their flag and without the national anthem. but those people who are battling against us, the paper says, do not understand one thing. whatever they have planned against us, russia will make the final decision, it will be russia's decision whether our athletes go to pyeongchang. but to compete with a neutral status, the

government paper says, is humiliation for our country. similar idea in this pro—kremlin paper, its headline here, 0lympic madness. and the paper says that banning a whole country from taking part in the olympics for doping violations which this paper clips haven't been proven isjust like dropping a nuclear bomb in response to accusations of fraud. but we get very different picture this paper, this is one of the main sporting papers in russia and it says that the ioc, the international olympic committee, has completely outplayed russia's sporting bureaucrats because no one can say, the paper says, that russia hasn't been allowed to take part in the games because russian athlete will be allowed to take part under the brand olympic athletes from russia and it is very critical of russian officials who, the paper claims, did nothing at all when this doping scandal broke, nothing at all

except, the paper says, from talking about an anti—russian plot. and it concludes by saying that we shouldn't talk about russia being humiliated, the decision has been taken, we have to live with it, let's get on and do well in korea. we are supporting the olympic athletes from russia, we are supporting russia. we're still waiting to hear from president putin although a kremlin spokesman has just said that the ioc decision will be "seriously analysed", with the first priority to defend the interests of russian athletes. but many other politicians and sports personalities in russia have been reacting to the ban. the chair of the russian 0lympic committee, alexander zhukov, said "punishing innocent athletes is unjust and immoral". the former president of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev, said the ioc took account of only part of the story. "this is just wrong. this is sport, for goodness' sake," he said. "without russia, this is a crippled

0lympics," said 0lympic pole—vault medalist, yelena isinbayeva, who now chairs the supervisory board for the russian anti—doping agency. the chair of the russian bobsleigh federation, alexander zubkov said "i am simply shocked by what is happening. it's a punch in the stomach." zubkov, who was russian flag—bearer at the 2014 olympics, and won two gold medals at sochi, was last month disqualified for doping violations. he is one of 22 russian athletes who have today filed appeals at the court of arbitration for sport. france's biggest rock star, johnny hallyday, has died from lung cancer at the age of 74. known as the french elvis, he achieved huge popularity at home, even if that never really translated beyond the french—speaking world. georgina smythe reports. the curtain falls on one

of france's favourite voices. hallyday sold more than 100 million albums in his career, and starred in severalfilms. born jean—philippe smet, he broke onto the music scene in the 1960s by singing rock ‘n' roll songs in his native tongue, earning him the nickname french elvis. he was made a chevalier of the legion d'honneur by french president jacques chirac in 1997 but despite his success at home, he failed to crack the lucrative american or any english—speaking market. the veteran rock star, known fondly to francophone fans as 0urjohnny, is being remembered as an icon with a voice transcending generations. french president emmanuel macron has also paid tribute, saying that hallyday carved himself into the lives of french people. his wife confirmed he had passed away from lung cancer with courage and dignity.

johnny hallyday there who has died. 0ur correspondent hugh schofield is in paris. the french elvis? you have to be in france to realise the shock. the sense of grief and sense of loss that have come over an entire country and it is comparable to elvis dying. when elvis died, i remember the world felt different and america felt different and it feels different today here in france. people may not have all of his music but they loved him and they identified with him and they followed him through many years and iam thinking followed him through many years and i am thinking back, he started his career in 1958, 50 nine. people have known of him, followed his career, the ups and downs of his private

life, so faithfully over that period and he developed such a loyal fan base that everyone does feel lost today. he really was, it is not an exaggeration to say he was on he met a modern french life. i think it is because he has been there so long and also because people did identify with him. he had this sort of working—class honesty simplicity about him, he did not say very much that he had a ringing authenticity about it. people very much identified with that as well. hearing from president macron, saying there is something ofjohnny in all of us. yes, johnny hallyday, what was striking, be read that he was a bit of a joke in the english—speaking world. he was a rocker who was a showbiz type you

imitated elvis and made a big monkey of himself doing so. that completely unfair. it is judging of himself doing so. that completely unfair. it isjudging him by the likes of the american as if that was his main sort of point of reference and the market he wanted to break into. it was not. he is french, he had a belgian father, his relationship with the french was a very french relationship. he was a rocker that there was also this intellectual aura about him, people analyse his suffering, his relationship with his poorfather who was a showbiz person who had gone off the rails and his terrible childhood when he had been, his pa rents childhood when he had been, his pa re nts ha d childhood when he had been, his parents had to get married to show that he was not the child of a german soldier. all this trouble had fed into the image and his overcoming us that trouble, his personal demons, enamoured the french would come. thank you so much for that assessment. the headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. in a moment we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two.

first we leave you with for a look at the weather. simon, storm caroline on the way? the met office that has just recently upgraded its yellow warning to an amberwarning recently upgraded its yellow warning to an amber warning which is now to be prepared across the north of scotla nd be prepared across the north of scotland three into tomorrow morning. some storm force winds here, storm caroline for the first pa rt here, storm caroline for the first part of the middle area this week and then turning much colder as caroline close away, snow and ice later on. the wind containing to pick up, some rain moving through northern ireland, west wales, the south—west of england, drier and brighter towards the east. through the night, gail is developing around the night, gail is developing around the east, northern and western areas, spreads down towards the east of england. an amber warning from the met office and the far north of scotland, gusts of 80, 90 mph. heavy rain, strong winds clear to the south. many of us into thursday,

turning much colder with the risk of this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the prime minister has spoken on the phone to dup leader arlene foster, as the british government try to salvage a brexit deal. brexit secretary david davis has admitted to a select committee of mps that the government has not carried out any formal assessment of the impact of leaving the eu on the different sectors of the economy. britain has expressed concern about reports that president trump will recognise jerusalem as reports that president trump will recognisejerusalem as the capital of israel and move the american embassy from tel aviv to the city as well. a man is appearing before a court in central london, accused of plotting to murder theresa may. a second man has also appeared charged with a terror offence. and

coming up, the ukrainian sanctuary providing a second chance for bearers. —— bearers. now let's get the latest sport with you. good morning. england face a near impossiblejob to good morning. england face a near impossible job to retain the ashes after another resounding defeat put them 2—3 —— to zero down with three to play in the series. england's faint hope on the final day of the second test was extinguished, australia winning by 120 runs. andy swiss is in adelaide. england came here with high hopes. the barmy army were out in force. but it was all over in barely an hour and three quarters. from the moment chris woa kes was quarters. from the moment chris woakes was out, the second ball of the day, it looked like an uphill struggle for england. it got even worse when joe struggle for england. it got even worse whenjoe root struggle for england. it got even worse when joe root was struggle for england. it got even worse whenjoe root was out

struggle for england. it got even worse when joe root was out for a 67, the cornerstone of england's batting, the key wicket as far as australia were concerned. from there it subsided quickly. moeen ali went lbw. and jonny bairstow was the last man out. mitchell sta rc lbw. and jonny bairstow was the last man out. mitchell starc claiming a fifth wicket as australia cruised ultimately to what was a comfortable victory on paper, if not in practice. even so, afterwards, joe root was trying to take the positives from the performance. we have shown throughout the two games there are periods when we can outperform australia. butjust not for five days. that is our challenge really. if we get that right and we can perform to our ability for longer periods of time, then we will win games. simple as that. australian captain steve smith will be a very relieved man. it was his decision not to enforce the follow—on that seemed to backfire. australia were skittled

out in their second innings and said up out in their second innings and said up the chance for england to secure a victory, but they couldn't take it. smith admitted going into today he had been worried. it is all part of being captain for your country. you have to make difficult decisions. sometimes he will make the wrong decision. it is part of a learning experience. hopefully i can learning experience. hopefully i can learn something from this game. england face a huge challenge ahead of them. they fly to press for the next test, where england haven't won a test match for nearly 40 years. a huge task awaits them. if australia win that third test next week, they will regain the ashes. 22 russian athletes are going to the quarter arbitration for sport to challenge the decision by the international olympic committee to disqualify them from next year's winter olympics. because of

state—sponsored doping no russian athlete will be allowed to take part in pyeongchang. derek mcinnes will hold talks with aberdeen's board about the prospect of them speaking to rangers —— him. the ibrox club offered around £1 million in compensation for mcguinness and his assistant, tony daugherty. it is understood mcguinness is keen to speak to rangers. however, aberdeen and refusing permission. serena williams is planning on entering the australian open in january, just four months after giving birth. the 36—year—old won the melbourne event injanuary for a seventh time. she gave birth in september. that is all the sport for now. we're back with more at 1:30pm. more on the government admitting it has not carried out so—called impact

assessments on how leaving the european union may affect the british economy. appearing before the brexit committee today, david davis said it would be hard to predict the economic effects of brexit. he said officials would do some work on this at some stage. the chair of the exiting committee, hilary benn, asked the brexit secretary which sectors have been analysed. so there isn't one, for example, hold the automotive sector? not that lam aware hold the automotive sector? not that i am aware of. aerospace? no. no to all of them. doesn't it strike you as rather strange, given the experience around the committee you have, the government undertakes impact assessments and all sorts of things all the time. yet on the most fundamental change we face as a country, you have said the government has not taken ——

undertaken any assessments at all. the first thing to say, mr chairman, is when these sectoral analyses were initiated they were done to understand the effect of various options. what the outcome would be. you don't need a formal impact assessments to understand that if there is a regulatory hurdle between our producers and the market that will have an impact, an effect. we will have an impact, an effect. we will at some stage do the best we can to quantify the effect of different negotiating outcomes, as we come up different negotiating outcomes, as we come up to them. we have not started phase two yet. in particular we will try to assess, well, in bigger categories, the effect of various outcomes in financial services. we will try and assess the effect of various outcomes in terms

of the overall trend —— overarching manufacturing sector. we will do that closer to the negotiating time. they fall precisely in that area which i described as negotiation sensitive. if, for example, i had two options for an industry that our negotiating with the european union, and one of them would be beneficial to the tune of i don't know, 50 billion, picking a number out of the air, and the other option would be negative by 10 million, air, and the other option would be negative by10 million, i'm not going to publish that just negative by10 million, i'm not going to publish thatjust before going to publish thatjust before going to publish thatjust before going to negotiation with the commission. that is the point. when they come, i could tell you they are there but i can't given to the committee at that point. david davis answering questions from hilary benn. a man has appeared in court accused of a plot to bomb downing street and kill the prime minister. our home affairs correspondent, june kelly, is at westminster magistrates' court. june, bring us up—to—date?

june, bring us up-to-date? this man is 20 and he is from north london. he was arrested last tuesday, the 28th of november, and he is accused of planning to detonate an improvised explosive device, a bomb, at the gates of downing street, at thejunction at the gates of downing street, at the junction with whitehall. the plan, it is alleged, was that he was planning to then get into downing street in the ensuing chaos and basically attack the prime minister. it is claimed he was going to do this, he was going to kill the prime minister, and it was going to be a suicide attack. he was going to be armed with pepper spray and a knife and equipped with a suicide vest. these are very serious allegations. these are very serious allegations. the second defendant is a man from birmingham, he is 21. he is facing a charge of preparing to commit a terrorist act. that involves trying to obtaina terrorist act. that involves trying to obtain a fake passport to travel

from the uk to libya. the first of —— the first defendant is accused of helping the second man. basically he is facing a second charge as well. both of these men were arrested last tuesday. they have been remanded in custody pending their next court appearance. at this stage we don't get any pleas. jim kelly, thank you. animals held in zoos and circuses are often mistreated by their keepers and end up traumatised. now a sanctuary in ukraine is providing a second chance at life for bears rescued from captivity. this report is from the bbc‘s zhanna bezpiatchuk. translation: when a bear is depressed, he sleeps all day because he doesn't feel confident. these brandon bairs were mistreated by

their previous owners. —— brandon bairs. this state run sanctuary is now giving them a second chance at life. free from cruelty and in their natural habitat. translation: hello. the stress of life in captivity makes bears physically and mentally ill. translation: he is anxious. he doesn't want to come here. this pair fears freedom after spending years in cramped cages. he is one of 25 bears at this national park in western ukraine. they have been rescued from circuses and zoos. 0r confiscated at airports.

translation: little girl, come here. these cubs arrived here two years ago. there were confiscated from smugglers at kiev airport. they were brought here. captive bears often have open wounds from wearing tight collars. some are blind and suffer from muscle wastage. translation: circus bears are in demand when they are young. as soon asa demand when they are young. as soon as a bear it gets sick, it becomes a burden. they are then put down or used as bait to train hunting dogs. there are only 300 brown bears in

the ukraine. half of them living captivity. for these bears, their days of misery have finally come to an end. but they will never be able to live in the wild unaided. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour — but first, the headlines on bbc newsroom live: the prime minister has been speaking on the phone to the dup leader, as the british government tries to salvage a brexit deal. meanwhile, the brexit secretary admits for the first time the government hasn't carried out any formal assessment of the impact of leaving the eu on the different sectors of the economy there are there a re protests there are protests injerusalem as the white house says donald trump will today break with decades of american policy and recognise the city as the capital of israel. hello. the top business stories.

banks should end all unauthorised overdraft charges because they are trapping people in debt. the financial charity stepchange says two million people in the uk used their overdraft facility every month last year. the organisation wants banks and regulators to do more to identify people and offer them greater help. luxury goods firms have won a significant court battle over how their products are sold. europe's top court says us cosmetics firm coty can block retailers from selling its goods online. they want to protect their brand and prices. but online retailers, including amazon and ebay, have argued that restricting online sales is anti—competitive and damages business. more on that warning from a charity that says more than two million people in the uk are trapped in persistent

debt because of their overdraft. stepchange wants banks and regulators to do more to help those in financial trouble to stop, what it's calling a "vicious cycle of debt". laura rodrigues is from the charity. people are being hit regularly by high on arranged overdraft charges when they go over their overdraft limit. it pushes them further into debt. what we want the banks to do, one major bank has already done so, is get rid of these charges and scrap them. make their charges more transparent and clear. much more on the website about that. the digital skills gap costs the uk economy around £63 billion a year in lost income, according to a house of commons report. the uk economy faces a major labour shortage, and technology skills are at the heart of the issue — 8,300 students studied computing at a—level in 2017. that's up on last year. but when compared to the 34,600

pupils who studied sociology, the scale of the challenge is clear. so what can be done? geoff smith is the managing director in the uk and ireland of recruitment firm experis when you see figures like that showing how few students are actually taking up these courses, i suppose it begs the question why it is not more attractive? that is an interesting question. we are staring ata interesting question. we are staring at a skills crisis. it has been proven pretty difficult to encourage individuals, young and old, the importance of digital skills. for me, it is a four pronged approach we need to take. we need a little bit more from the government. there needs to be more coordination and more publicity. equally, we need to

see businesses take an interest in the short and long—term skills agenda. and we need to look at schools as well the judge technology is more important as maths and english. and then there is the home, families need to encourage individuals to find out how their devices work and notjust use them for play. is there a lack of teachers trained in these skills? we have talked about this story before. it is not just have talked about this story before. it is notjust the students not getting these skills, there aren't the teachers? absolutely. the government's skills report suggests there is a 30% deficit in teachers with the right skills. yes, it is a problem. partly because the pace of change is so pronounced. it is difficult for those skills and higher educational institutions to keep up. it is a challenge. and we talk about the skills shortage and how much it is costing the uk economy, that is a staggering loss. why employers not maybe turning

those staff themselves and giving them thejobs? those staff themselves and giving them the jobs? the good news is there are lot of initiatives. employers are taking it seriously. they are finding it difficult to balance the cure and no demand with what they need to prevent their own businesses being disrupted, with the longer term agenda for investing more with the younger generations. it isa more with the younger generations. it is a difficult balance. it is a premium to invest in both areas. upscaling individuals and reskilling individuals in your current workforce and planning for the future. it is a difficult balance. some organisations are making good progress. they will succeed. they will retain as well as develop the skills needed. we know how quickly technology changes. is there a danger that people start studying these skills and actually by the time they get to the world of work, by the time they look for a job, it has changed and they need to learn something else? absolutely. we studied work at universities. sometimes the skills being taught

will become obsolete in a short space of time. the important thing is to assess somebody‘s ability to learn and their desire to relearn and sort of self learn. it is important to have a good grounding in the basis of technology but we have to go to demonstrate an interest in continuing that learning curve because it is changing at a rapid pace. thank you very much for explaining that. in other business news... german firms will reconsider their trade links to the uk if there is no clarity on a brexit deal by march, the country's business lobby has warned. the head of the powerful bdi group, told the bbc there was "a certain urgency" for companies that do business in britain, and recently asked its members to prepare for a "very hard brexit". the owner of poundland has seen its shares fall 60%, after saying it would launch an investigation into accounting irregularities. shares in the firm, which owns 40 local brands in more than 30 countries, later recovered, but still

still ended down 52%. as well as poundland, it owns bensons for beds and harveys in the uk. and one bitcoin is now worth a record $12,530.86 — that's £9,353 after the cryptocurrency‘s rise continues. experts suggest investors are buying bitcoin on the back of speculation and the "fear of missing out". vocal critics have warned that the currency lacks transparency and is susceptible to fraud. a quick look at the market numbers. the ftse100 is pretty flat. not a huge amount moving it. we saw some optimism at the start of the week before we got the news about brexit. there is a little bit of profit—taking before the end of the year because we have seen markets on

the whole rising significantly over the whole rising significantly over the course of the year. we're getting close where trade gets thin for the holidays. more later. fake news has been named the word of the year for 2017, thanks in part to president trump. it's very quickly became part of our vocabulary. today the bbc launches a new scheme to help young people identify real news and filter out fake orfalse information. 0ur director of news james harding explained more about the scheme and why it's neeeded. we wa nt we want to make sure that young people across the country can get at the news that is true, filter out the news that is true, filter out the fake news and identify for themselves which sources they can trust. the bbc is a place that sets great store by trust, by making sure that through reality check we challenge fake news. this is an attempt to go into schools, to speak

to young people and give them the equipment they need to distinguish between what is true and what is false. wide the need to get involved, why the need to do it?|j think people are getting the news all over the place. there is more information than ever before. as we know, some of it is old news, some is half—truth. some isjust downright lies. fake news. it is harder than ever when you look at those information feeds to discern what is true and what is not. there are ways that you can look at your news feed and identify a story that is true and a story that is not. and we think that is a skill that enables people to make good choices about the information they get and good choices in their lives. james harding, the bbc director of music. —— director of news. more now on the effect of brexit on the uk economy — and the government has admitted that it has not carried out so—called ‘impact assessments' of how leaving the eu might affect

the british economy. appearing before the brexit committee this morning, david davis said it would be hard to predict the economic effects of brexit, but said officials would do the work ‘at some stage'. joining me now from belfast is allie renison, head of europe and trade policy at the institute of directors. thank you for being with us. what do you make of that admission?” thank you for being with us. what do you make of that admission? i think there has been a lot of to and fro about what the source of some of these supposed impact assessments r. that is up to politicians to discuss. from a business perspective, some of these discussions are a bit backward looking. we are trying to get the governor to be a bit more forthcoming, particularly when it comes to phase two of the negotiations, looking at their objectives with more clarity. the businesses themselves know what the issues are but it may be useful to have that in the public domain to make sure that people understand issues. what areas are you talking about? wire —— where would you like

to see more clarity? we know the government has published a few future partnership papers for the future partnership papers for the future relationship between the uk and the eu. there are some good general outlines about what they want. we would like more clarity on what some of the regulatory cooperation envisaged across their host of different sectors with the eu going forward, will we still participate in various european regulatory agencies? if it is going to bea regulatory agencies? if it is going to be a different relationship, what will that be? we know we are leaving the customs union. we need to make sure that we know from a business perspective if there is gone to be any customs union. if not, businesses will have to start planning to deal with things like rules of origin, which become important. a bit more clarity beyond just a deep and special partnership at this point. you are speaking from northern ireland. this is the crucial issue at the moment, the issue of regulatory alignment, as it issue of regulatory alignment, as it is called. where do you see that

girl? do you think it is possible to get some sort of agreement that avoids the need for a hard order between the north of ireland and the republic of ireland ?|j between the north of ireland and the republic of ireland? i think it is entirely possible. it will be a combination of policy solutions and technological solutions. sometimes the debate around what is needed to avoid a hard border on the island of ireland is sometimes misleading in the sense that if people think it is one of the other, it is both. 0ne the sense that if people think it is one of the other, it is both. one of the things they last week has done is bring to the fore that discussion about what is needed in terms of what the uk's objectives are in terms of its regulatory relationship with the uk going forward. thank you very much. norman smith is in westminster. we are going to keep talking about the question of the irish border because that is pivotal to the future of the brexit talks. we know

that arlene foster, the dup leader, has been on the phone to theresa may kamara theresa may has been on the phone to her! what more do we know? no day is complete without a belly full of brexit. we had monday which the breakdown in talks. tuesday was the breakdown in talks. tuesday was the stand—off with the dup. now we are on wednesday and we have got the phone call with arlene foster. i understand it was a very brief phone call. no sign yet anyway of arlene foster coming over to downing street for a face—to—face to try and nail down some agreement. i think that is because there are fundamental problems here. and that is that the dup is deeply unhappy about this suggestion, this phrase of regulatory alignment. they just suggestion, this phrase of regulatory alignment. theyjust do not wear it. it is too ambiguous for their tastes. they fear it paves the way for northern ireland being hived

off as way for northern ireland being hived offasa way for northern ireland being hived off as a semidetached member of the uk. more than that, they are not even uk. more than that, they are not eve n very uk. more than that, they are not even very keen on any sort of alignment, even if it is uk wide, all of which makes it very hard for mrs may to get them to shift on this. and on top of all that, the clock is ticking and the dup are in no rush. 0ne dup source said to me, we don't deal in clocks, we dealing calendars. that gives you an idea of the sort of time frame they envisage to resolve this sort of issue because their argument is this is something which matters for generations. therefore, they will not sit down and thrash it out in an afternoon. that is a problem for mrs may. she needs this done and dusted before next thursday. we really are in an extraordinarily difficult and tense moment as mrs may tries to get some movement from the dup. the other hope of tory mps here is that brussels and dublin will move, that they will be the ones that blink. so

far, no sign of that. but someone, somewhere is going to have to blink if this is not going to end in a no deal. if there is no deal, there are no trade talks and that would be pretty ta nta mou nt to no trade talks and that would be pretty tantamount to a disaster? no trade talks and that would be pretty tantamount to a disaster7m a paradoxical sort of way, that is the best hope, that at the end of the best hope, that at the end of the day everybody will go... they will pull back from dropping out. the stakes are so high. brussels and dublin want the deal. belfast want a deal. and london almost certainly wa nts a deal. and london almost certainly wants a deal. everybody wants a deal. the fear there may be nothing should be enough to somehow prompt eve ryo ne should be enough to somehow prompt everyone to come up with some sort of last—minute forge. however, political accidents happen. it is possible that everyone stays each other down and we get to thursday and nobody has bodged and then you

really are on the cusp of no agreement and the uk leaving the eu without a deal. norman, we will be back with you ahead of pmq. we will see what is said in there. —— prime minister's questions. we have got storm caroline on the way tonight and tomorrow. it could be severe for a northern scotland. for the rest of today, quite a bit of cloud across the uk. rain affecting scotland, northern ireland, north—west england, wales and the south—west of england. further east, looking largely dry. temperatures around ten to 13 degrees. through tonight, gales developing on the irish sea coasts. heavy rain continuing further south and east. as we get into the early hours of thursday storm caroline ramps up. an amber warning in scotland. 80 to 90 mile—per—hour wind. that has the potential to

cause damage and disruption. elsewhere, strong winds across scotland, northern ireland, northern england. it clears away to the east. then we are left with clear skies, sunshine but turning considerably colder through thursday afternoon. with the risk of snow on low levels in scotland, and across wales. this is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at midday: the prime minister has been speaking on the phone to the dup leader — as the british government tries to salvage a brexit deal. meanwhile, the brexit secretary admits for the first time the government hasn't carried out any formal assessment of the impact

of leaving the eu on the different sectors of the economy. automotive sector? no, not that i'm aware of. is there one on aerospace? no. one on financial services? i think that answer's going to be no to all of them. no to all of them. we'll be live at the house of commons, where theresa may is preparing to answer prime minister's questions. and a man has been remanded in custody this morning over an alleged plot to kill theresa may. protests in jerusalem as the white house says donald trump will today break with decades of american policy and recognise the city as the capital of israel. good afternoon.

welcome to bbc newsroom live. let's cross to the house of commons where prime minister's questions is getting underway. let us just let usjust go let us just go back to an assistant political editor norman smith. i guess no prizes for thinking that brexit will dominate pmq ‘s today. you might expect a brexit beanfeast but maybe not from the front benches. jeremy corbyn tends to shy away from questions about brexit because labour has its own divisions and difficulties over the issue. so he tends not to focus too much on brexit, though i am pretty sure tory backbenchers, brexit supporters, labour mps they will will certainly wa nt labour mps they will will certainly want clarity over the reasons for the breakdown in the talks in brussels and some indication of how

mrs may is going to put it back together again. elsewhere, mrs may is going to put it back togetheragain. elsewhere, look out for questions from tory mps on defence cuts. there's a lot of disquiet on the tory backbenches over suggestions that there are going to be steep cuts, potentially, to the size of the army, maybe tv feature of the marines, maybe to our surface fleet. a lot of unhappiness about that, calls for defensive secretary to stand up to philip hammond. also maybe we'll get some of the sort of file on from the donald trump tweet, more clarity perhaps following suggestions at the weekend that mr trump could be coming potentially to britain in february. maybe, maybejeremy corbyn will grow on universal credit. let us will grow on universal credit. let us have a look. i will call the honourable member to ask question one, i should inform the house that the text of the closed question

tabled by the honourable gentleman, the member for lichfield relating to economic performance and public services in the lee westwood midlands, question five, has in error then omitted from the printed copies of the order paper. that is a wonderful word, it has been made available in the vote office and copies are on the table. order, questions to the prime minister. reece george. question number one. prime minister.

mr speaker, i number one. prime minister. mrspeaker, iam number one. prime minister. mr speaker, i am sure the whole house will wish tojoin mr speaker, i am sure the whole house will wish to join me in offering condolences to the family, friends and colleagues as police co nsta ble friends and colleagues as police constable james dixon from thames valley police who was killed while motorcycle duty yesterday and also to the family and friends of the passenger in the car involved in the collision. i ensure the whole house will also wish tojoin collision. i ensure the whole house will also wish to join me in offering condolences to the family and friends of the former member of this house gym had who was a former minerand a this house gym had who was a former miner and a strong voice for lanarkshire in this place for nearly 30 years. mr speaker, this morning i had meetings with colleagues and others in additional to my duties in this house, i will have further such meetings later today. reece george. my constituent kate has run a successful nursery 4/14 yea rs. has run a successful nursery 4/14 years. but after two months on the gummer‘s funding for three and four—year—olds, she says she cannot make it work. she is having to sell

her home to pay her staff redundancy. 0ver her home to pay her staff redundancy. over 1000 her home to pay her staff redundancy. 0ver1000 nurseries are broadly close and 50% say they cannot continue. if nurseries close, pa rents cannot continue. if nurseries close, parents cannot work. please will be promised a meet with me and nursery owners to discuss such widespread and critical problems? ican and critical problems? i can say to the honourable lady that i have indeed recently met with some nursery owners looking at this issue and they have gave a very clear message that either are part of the country where local authorities are operating the system very efficiently and very well and area part very efficiently and very well and are a part the country where that is not happening. 0f are a part the country where that is not happening. of course what underpins this is the decision taken by this government to improve the childcare for the parents so that they actually have a better opportunity and ensure that their children get into the child care they need. mr speaker, will be prime minister gives a quick update on the brexit negotiations? does she agree with me

that pays brexit it is absolutely crucial that we enhance skills and apprenticeships in the construction and housing sector? does she agree that now is not the time that the construction industry trading but to be proposing to close their site putting at risk 600 jobs? will she meet meet to discuss this and help meet meet to discuss this and help me in my campaign? cani me in my campaign? can i say to my honourable friend that he is a great champion for his constituency. he has been a great supporter, i am very happy to supporter, i am very happy to support his campaign, wish him well. iam happy support his campaign, wish him well. i am happy to meet with him. he asked about brexit, of course what we are doing in the brexit negotiations is ensuring that we can indeed build those houses and build that country for the future that we wa nt to that country for the future that we want to see and the principles that we are working to our that the text thatis we are working to our that the text that is currently being discussed is a report on the progress of the negotiations on which basis the

european commission will decide whether sufficient progress has been made and we can move onto the next stage of talks. it is for those future talks to agree precisely how we ensure cross—border trade while maintaining the constituent who integrity of the united kingdom. we are leaving the opinion, the single market and customs union, —— european union, we will do what is right in the interest of the whole of the united kingdom and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. ijoined jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. i joined the jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. ijoined the prime minister in condolences to the police officer and the passenger who lost their lives and the tragic event yesterday. i join the lives and the tragic event yesterday. ijoin the premise in paying tribute to the latejimmy hood. he was a great fighter for the

coal industry during the strike and after that during his time here. we thankjimmyfor after that during his time here. we thankjimmy for his work for the labour movement. mr speaker, in july, labour movement. mr speaker, injuly, the international trade secretary said breast that —— brexit negotiations would be the easiest in history. does the premise agree with that assessment? iam very assessment? i am very pleased to report, negotiations are in progress and very good progress has been made. but... what's my right honourable friend, what my right honourable friend has been focusing on is the trade negotiations for the future and indeed because we are already a member of the european union, when we leave we will not be at the same basis in relationship with them as

say canada was negotiating a trade agreement and therefore we do expect that we will be able to get the deal that we will be able to get the deal thatis that we will be able to get the deal that is right for the whole of the united kingdom. while we need to do is to move on to phase two and the yea rs is to move on to phase two and the years so is to move on to phase two and the yea rs so concerned is to move on to phase two and the years so concerned about easy negotiations, why did his mvp is rigged against enabling us to do that? -- mvps rigged against enabling us to do that? —— mvps rate against. mr speaker, she hasn't succeeded in convincing many people and yesterday, one tory donor told the papers and by great, yesterday approved beyond doubt that the prime minister is not only week but it is her incompetence that is harming the uk. he was not very kind about the rest of her front bench either, describing them as a bunch of jellyfish, masquerading as a cabinet. mr speaker, this is truly a

coalition of chaos. at the start of the week it all seem to be going so well. the prime minister had scheduled a lunch withjean—claude juncker, followed by a press conference and then to triumphantly returned to the house to present her deal. order, let me make it clear, no, order. i know what is going on. ican no, order. i know what is going on. i can look after these matters. no one in this chamber is going to be shouted down. it will not happen. if people think they can sit where i cannot see them and make a raucous noise, they are very foolish. i know where they are and i know what they are up to. it is not going to work. end of subject. jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. but on her way back to britain, someone but on her way back to britain, someone forgot to share the details of the irish deal with the dup. surely, mr speaker, there are 1.5

billion reasons why the prime minister really should not have forgotten minister really should not have fo rg otte n to minister really should not have forgotten to do that. i think it is belittled the technical —— difficult to detect the question. 0n technical —— difficult to detect the question. on monday, mrjunckersaid there are a couple of things that we are negotiating on. he is confident, he is confident that we will be able to achieve sufficient progress, but if he wants to wonder about plants and negotiations, perhaps he should butt out his own front bench. by the shadow chancellor used to say staying in the single market was not respecting the referendum, now he says it is on the table. the shadow brexit secretary, shadow trade

secretary used to say staying in the customs union with deeply unattractive. now he says it is not off the table. now i think, we now know from the shadow chancellor what the approach really is, it is not having a planet or because when asked what the labour party plan was, the shadow chancellor said, thatis was, the shadow chancellor said, that is difficult for us. as we all know, the only thing the labour party is planning for his run on the pound. mr speaker, the prime minister was unable to support her brexit secretary when he tried to explain that a deal was supposed to be done in october but still has not been done by december. the leader of the dup told irish television she only got sight of the deal on monday morning, five weeks after she first asked for it. two months after the original deadline for all the first phase of talks and after monday's

shambles, is the prime minister now able to end the confusion and clearly outline what the government's position is now with regard to the irish border? iam very regard to the irish border? i am very happy to outline the position that i have taken on the irish border with northern ireland. it is exactly the same position but i took it is exactly the same position but itook in it is exactly the same position but i took in the lancaster house speech, but i took in the florence speech, but i took in the florence speech, that we have taken consistently any negotiations, which is that we will ensure that there is no hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland... we will do that while we respect the constitutional integrity of the united kingdom. and while we respect the internal market and protects the internal market, as the united kingdom and those labour members who shout howl? that is the

whole point of the second phase of the negotiations, when we... because we will deliver this, we aim to deliver the best part of our overall trade deal between the united kingdom and the european union. and we can only talk about that when we get into says two. we have a plan, he has none. 18 months after the referendum, the prime minister is unable to answer the question. and on monday, as she thought she was coming here to make a statement, it was vetoed by the leader of the dup, detail really is wagging the dog here. mr speaker, the brexit secretary told bbc

programme injune, it is myjob, i do not think out loud and i do not make the guesses. i try and make decisions, you make those based on data, the data has been gathered. we have 50, nearly 60 analysis nearly done. this house voted to see those a nalyses done. this house voted to see those analyses that today, the brexit secretary told the select committee they actually do not exist. can the prime minister put us out of our misery? do they exist or don't go? have they done the work or haven't they? that is surely one question she can answer after 18 months. cani she can answer after 18 months. can i make a gentle suggestion to the leader of the opposition? he asked me a question on the northern irish border, i answered the question, he then stood up and said i had not answered the question. perhaps he should listen to the a nswer perhaps he should listen to the answer is that i go. the house

requested, as i understand, 58 sectorial impact assessments. there we re sectorial impact assessments. there were no fit state sectorial impact assessments, there was analysis over 800 pages of sectorial analysis has been made and published or made available. arrangements have been made available the members of this house to see it. we are very clear that we will not give a running commentary on negotiations, but what we will do is work for what this country wants. we will ensure we leave the european union in march 2019. we will leave the internal market, we will leave the customs union at the same time and we will ensure there is no hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland when we do it. this really is a shambles. all they have done... all they have done is

offer a heavily redacted, abbreviated version, it has not been widely shared. the brexit secretary said in september, mr speaker, that 50 billion divorce payment was com plete 50 billion divorce payment was complete nonsense. the foreign secretary rejected any payment and said the eu could go whistle. so, can the prime minister put before the house a fully itemised account that could be independently audited by the office for budget responsibility and the national audit office on any proposed payment? because we haven't actually, we are at the point of progressing onto the next stage, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed so the final settle m e nt everything is agreed so the final settlement will not be agreed until we've actually got the whole of the deal agreed. but i have to say to the right honourable gentlemen, he has asked me questions only about

ha rd has asked me questions only about hard borders, half the labour party wa nts to hard borders, half the labour party wants to stay in the single market, half was to leave the single market, the only hard border around is right down the middle of the labour party. mr speaker, 18 months since the referendum, no answers to the questions. today, they have not yet included phase one, no answers to the questions and the dup appeared to be ruling the roost and telling her what to do. mr speaker, whether it is brexit, the national health service, social care, railways, rising child poverty, growing pensioner poverty or universal credit, this government, this government is unable to solve important issues facing this country. in fact, important issues facing this country. infact, it important issues facing this country. in fact, it is making them worse. the economy is slowing, more people in poverty, brexit negotiations in a shambles. this government is clearly not fit for

the future. if they cannot negotiate a good deal, wouldn't it be better if they just got out a good deal, wouldn't it be better if theyjust got out of a good deal, wouldn't it be better if they just got out of the a good deal, wouldn't it be better if theyjust got out of the way? cani if theyjust got out of the way? can i say to the right honourable gentleman, week in and week out, he comes to this house making promises that he knows he cannot deliver. and they keep doing it. at the election, he told students they would write off their student debt. then he said idid not off their student debt. then he said i did not commit to write off the debt. but what of the labour party doing? they are putting around leaflet saying labour will cancel existing student debt. it is time the right honourable gentleman apologised so grossly misleading. order. close question, question

five. iam five. i am pleased to say that employment in the west midlands has risen by 180,000 since the 2010 election. in the budget, the chancellor confirmed the budget, the chancellor confirmed the ball living and working in the west midlands will benefit from second devolution deal and the edge of 50 million allocation for regional transport projects. —— 250 million. the establishment of the natural battery in the west midlands but the whole region at the very heart of european autonomous drive an electric drive cars. so, will my right honourable friend commit to continue to support this important industry and will she make a very important promise to me? yes. will she get road of that gas guzzler

jaguar of hers in number ten downing street and get a modern jaguar, an electric one from the west midlands? because we are the party as the future, not the old labour dinosaurs opposite. perhaps i could just... perhaps i could let my right honourable friend no doubt sadly the jaguar and number ten downing st is not mine. my honourable friend is absolutely right, the west midlands was at the heart of this important industry. we are investing £31 million in the west midlands for the development of testing infrastructure for autonomous vehicles. we will build on the expertise on self driving ca rs on the expertise on self driving cars as on the expertise on self driving ca rs as we on the expertise on self driving cars as we enter as a further 5 million into a test bed. i certainly look forward to seeing this technology developing further. can i

associate myself with the remarks of the prime minister regarding serves? i'm sure the house will want to join me in while claiming one who has arrived back in scotland this morning. now we know that the deal with the dup to keep the prime minister in office gave the dup a veto over brexit. it is embarrassing that it was being briefed on monday morning that the prime minister had a deal, only to take this off the table a deal, only to take this off the ta ble after a deal, only to take this off the table after call with the dup. is this the prime minister who is in office but not empower? what we are doing is working to a deal that will work for the whole of the united kingdom. there are particular circumstances in northern ireland because it is the one part of united kingdom that shares a land

border with a country that will be remaining in the european union. as we look ahead and jamie goode negotiations, as the honourable gentlemen with no, we are and talking, with all parts of the united kingdom, we want to ensure that we get the right deal for the uk and that is the deal but i have setup, leaving the european union, leaving the single market, and the customs union, will make sure we get the good trade deal for the future. the clock is ticking and we need a deal that keeps us in the single market and the customs union. to do otherwise will devastate the economy and costjobs. otherwise will devastate the economy and cost jobs. will otherwise will devastate the economy and costjobs. will be prime minster recognise that such a deal will resolve the irish border question and protect jobs throughout resolve the irish border question and protectjobs throughout the uk? anything less will be a failure of leadership. no, i have to say to the right honourable gentleman that he continues to back up the wrong tree. we are leaving the european union, that means we will leave the single

market and leaving the custom season. we will take back, we will ensure that we came to trade deals around the rest of the world and that will be important for us, important, he will reference jobs, it will ensurejobs in important, he will reference jobs, it will ensure jobs in this country. we will get a good deal on trade and security because this is notjust about trade for our future relationship. i set up in my foreign speech at the deep and special partnership we wanted indeed have with the european union, that is about the trade deal that ensures jobs and prosperity across the whole of the united kingdom. the front bench exchanges have had a lot of time. i bench exchanges have had a lot of time. lam bench exchanges have had a lot of time. i am happy to accommodate backbenchers who are waiting to answertheir backbenchers who are waiting to answer their questions. the bottleneck on the a147 continues to cause dreadful traffic accident and congestion. the improvement

proposals will start shortly. does my honourable friend support the scheme, this government is backing the gloucestershire economy by supporting this? i know my honourable friend have been working tirelessly on this particular issue. i understand the concerns and frustration that drivers in his constituency and elsewhere have about this vital strategic road, not just elsewhere have about this vital strategic road, notjust for gloucestershire but the rider region as well. we are backing the development of the roundabout scheme that was announced in 2014. the consultation will begin shortly so we can develop the right solution to tackle this pinch point and continue the support which as he says is good for the hold of gloucestershire's economy. the prime minister has been unable to provide us with a single plausible brexit scenario will will meet her red lines, and be a cce pta ble meet her red lines, and be acceptable to her cabinet, ireland

and the dup. is it not time that she dropped her red lines, the dup or the pretence that she can govern this country? she isjust this country? she is just completely wrong. this government has published a number of documents which said that the various options that can be taken forward in relation to the trade relationship for the future, that address the whole question of the customs relationship, that would address the issue of the northern ireland border. we have published these proposals. they are not part in detail, those details are not pa rt in detail, those details are not part of the negotiations at the moment. they will become part of the negotiations when we move on to phase two. thank you, mr speaker. when the british people voted to leave the european superstate, they voted to end the free movement of people, they voted to stop sending billions and billions of pounds to the eu each and every year and they voted to make our laws and our own country judged by our ownjudges. prime

minister, are we on course still to deliver that? if we have a problem, would it help if i came over to brussels with you to sort them out? i say to mind rang, isay to mind rang, i i say to mind rang, i am isay to mind rang, iam happy to spend time in his company, i had this petition on chicken farms went down well the other evening. the a nswer down well the other evening. the answer is yes, we down well the other evening. the answer is yes, we are on course to deliver what the people of this country deliver what the people of this cou ntry voted deliver what the people of this country voted for when they voted to leave the european union. will the prime minister support new trans—pennine rail links, high—speed three but also the restoration of the skipton link which as well as providing an hour, booster pennine towns has the additional merit of starting in the government chief whip's constituent the? cani

whip's constituent the? can i say to the honourable gentleman that we are looking very seriously and have been supported with this concept. we are waiting, asi with this concept. we are waiting, as i understand it, so specific proposals to be brought forward and we will look at proposals very seriously. iam sure seriously. i am sure the whole house is aware that 40 years ago today, this health came together and voted for an a new charity, the motoability charity which has transformed the lives of disabled people and their families. with the parameter agree with me —— prime minister that it should be carried forward and it is a golden opportunity for the disabled people to get into the workplace and enjoy the things that everyone else does in this country? iam in this country? i am grateful to my right honourable friend for marking the 40th anniversary of motoability in this way and i'm happy to join anniversary of motoability in this way and i'm happy tojoin him in marking that. i'm looking forward to becoming a senior patron, the do excellent work for with disabilities. there are more people

with a motoability car today than there were in 2010. can i also, can i also wish my right honourable friend well as i understand he will be going to be to receive his knighthood? be going to be to receive his knighthood ? well—deserved. thank you. prime minister, in light of the news today and the terrorists that on the prime minister and others, can i assure her of our prayers on the side of the house and thank the security forces for their sterling efforts. can you give us a specific commitment that nothing will be done to create any barrier, constitutionally, politically, economic growth already literary between northern ireland and the rest of the united kingdom? cani rest of the united kingdom? can i thank the honourable gentleman for the remarks that he made. can i say to him the simple answer to the question is yes. he won as other members of this house well but there are already areas where there are specific arrangements between

northern ireland and the republic of ireland, for example, the single energy market that exists between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. but we want to ensure that there is no hard border, that is exactly what we are working for. we are also working to respect the constitutional integrity of the united kingdom and protect the internal market of the united kingdom and i think we share those aims. the prime minister will be aware of the citizens advice scotland report issued yesterday that said in scotla nd issued yesterday that said in scotland up to 1 issued yesterday that said in scotland up to1 million consumers pay an average 30% more to have parcels delivered than the rest of the country. in my constituency this isa the country. in my constituency this is a huge issue were ridiculous prices are put on an area. in some cases companies refuse to deliver at all. can my right honourable friend tell me what the uk

friend is absolutely right to raise this and friend is absolutely right to raise this - and speak friend is absolutely right to raise this- and speak up on friend is absolutely right to raise this - and speak up on behalf of this issue and speak up on behalf of his constituency. royal mail does provide a universal postal service that includes parcel services five days a week at the uniform price throughout the uk. there are commercial issues that play outside this service. i'm sure my right honourable friend, the business secretary, will be happy to meet him to discuss the issue. the recognition by donald trump of jerusalem as the capital of israel will do grave damage to the prospect? for a just and lasting peace settlement between the israelis and the palestinians, which has been british and indeed american foreign policy for decades. was she consulted about this announcement? if so, what did she say? and we'll see here and now, unequivocally and clearly, condemn it? i say to the right honourable gentleman that i

intended to speak to president trump about this matter. but our position has not changed. 0ur position has been a long—standing one and is a very clear one, that the status of jerusalem should be determined as pa rt jerusalem should be determined as part of a negotiated settlement between the israelis and the palestinians, and jerusalem should ultimately form a shared capital between the israeli and palestinian states. we continue to support a two states. we continue to support a two state solution and we recognise the importance ofjerusalem. 0ur position on that has not changed. today glaxosmithkline and many other companies and charities investing in british bioscience genetics, does my right honourable friend agree that this investment in science and research underpins not onlyjobs but also revolution ——

revolutionary treatments which will save lives and give hope to many?” absolutely agree with my honourable friend. it has highlighted is a sector which is a very important sector which is a very important sector to the united kingdom. i welcome... this is one of the sectors which has been given significance in the industrial strategy that my right honourable friend, the business secretary, has delivered, as published, because this is an area where we see there are benefits in the uk for investment jobs are benefits in the uk for investmentjobs in the uk but also for improving the treatment available to patients and improving their lives. when the prime minister rings donald trump up to express our concerns regarding his moves concerning jerusalem and the israeli embassy, will see also be informing president trump that we will be proceeding to recognise the state of palestine as a central part of keeping the 2—stage process underway? a central part of keeping the 2-stage process underway? -- two

state. we want to see a negotiated settle m e nt state. we want to see a negotiated settlement between the israelis and palestinians. that should be based ona palestinians. that should be based on a two state solution. it should bea on a two state solution. it should be a sovereign and viable palestinian state, but also a secure and safe israel. that should be a matter of negotiation between the parties. the whole house will support what the prime minister said last week in the middle east on her visit about the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in yemen. woodsy continue to provide the maximum amount of pressure to lift both the humanitarian and commercial blockade, and use britain's good offices at the un to ensure a resumption of a peace process which does not have any preconditions and is inclusive? my right honourable friend has raised a very important issue. i'm sure everybody across the houseis issue. i'm sure everybody across the house is deeply concerned that the humanitarian crisis, the spiralling

prices we have seen in the yemen and the lingering threat of famine. i did indeed raise my concerns when i visited saudi arabia last week. i made it clear that the uk's view is that we want to see the port open for humanitarian cargo and also for commercial reasons. peace talks are our top priority. the best way to bring a long—term solution and long—term stability is to have a political solution. we will continue to support the efforts of the un special envoy and play a leading role, as he says, in diplomatic effo rts role, as he says, in diplomatic efforts to ensure a political solution can be reached. due to the £1 billion deal that the dup... we due to the £1 billion deal that the dup. .. we need due to the £1 billion deal that the dup... we need to consider the 2.5 billion cut to scotland's budget,

the £600 million rail shortfall, and the £600 million rail shortfall, and the £140 million vat refund we are still due. each one of these scottish tories costs scotland £265 million. can we please transfer them? i would like to say to the honourable gentleman it is time when he stood up to ask a question a look thatis he stood up to ask a question a look that is facts. it is my scottish conservative colleagues who have ensured that in the budget we were able to take steps in relation to the vat status of police for scotla nd the vat status of police for scotland and the fire services in scotland. he obviously macro hadn't noticed but i am happy to repeat that as a result of this budget £2 billion extra will come to scotland. in 2010, the conservative led government set out to reform the school curriculum to give our

children the skills they need to succeed. that is the prime minister agree that yesterday's reading results are a vindication of our reforms and our amazing teachers' effort, which will allow our children to forge a truly global britain? i thank my honourable friend because she has raised a very important issue. i'm happy to agree with her. yesterday we learned how the uk's revolution in phonics has dramatically improved school standards. and i would like to pay particular tribute to my honourable friend, the ministerfor particular tribute to my honourable friend, the minister for school standards, who has worked tirelessly on to this end through his time in this house, but also pay tribute to the hard work of teachers up and down the country. and just for the figures, in 2012, 50% of six—year—olds passed reading checks. this year that has risen to 81%. we are indeed building a britain fit for the future.

in october the prime minister wrote an open letter saying eu citizens living lawfully in the uk today will be able to stay. but this week my constituent was told by the uk that she would have to wait until brexit was done and then take our chances. are the eu citizens living herejust pawns in the brexit negotiations, or walshie chains —— will see chains operating systems to ensure eu citizens can stay? the position on eu citizens i set out in the open letter i sent is the position of the united kingdom government. i suggest to the honourable lady if she has a complaint, she sends that information to the immigration minister. yesterday the all—party group on cancer held its annual britain against cancer —— cancer conference, the largest gathering in the uk, to launch a report on the cancer

strategy. we help —— heard from the government and nhs england many good things that are happening. 0ne government and nhs england many good things that are happening. one issue is causing real concern and that is the delay in the release of the transformation funding to those front line services, courtesy of an additional requirement applied to the funding after the bidding process closed. having discussed the issue with the secretary of state, who is a jolly chap, could the prime minister meet with me to discuss this matter further? i say this matter further? isay to... this matter further? i say to... can this matter further? isay to... can i this matter further? i say to... can i say to my honourable friend, of course this is an important issue. we have seen some great progress being made in relation to this issue of providing higher standards of cancer care for all patients. survival records are ata all patients. survival records are at a record high. around 7000 more people are surviving cancer after successful nhs treatment compared to three years ago. of course we want to do more in relation to this issue. he has raised a very specific

point. and i understand the department of health are adopting a phased approach to investment as the national cancer programme does run for another three years. i'm happy to meeting to discuss this. contrary to her previous a nswer this. contrary to her previous answer on the subject, only the prime minister's government could remove barriers to universal credit for terminally ill people in scotland, england, wales and northern ireland. will she answered this question again this time? will see and the cruel requirement for people across the uk who don't want to know they are dying, to self certify on universal credit? cani certify on universal credit? can i say to the honourable gentleman that i suggest this is an issue i will ask the secretary of state for work and pensions to look at. we do want to ensure, as he knows, we are working on how universal credit is rolled out and how it is dealt with in relation to

individuals. i'm sure will understand that if there are particular things that apply to people in particular circumstances, they can only apply those circumstances if the job centre is aware of them. before my right honourable friend next goes to brussels, will seek apply a new coat of paint to a red lines? ifearon apply a new coat of paint to a red lines? i fear on monday we are beginning —— there were beginning to look a little bit pink. ican look a little bit pink. i can happily say to my honourable friend that the principals on which this government is negotiating were set out in the lancaster house speech, in the florence speech, and those principles remain. this morning london mps were briefed by the metropolitan police service on the grave challenge of serious youth violence and violent crime, including the scourge of scooter

assisted crime. with robbery up 30% in london, the police service in london faces a 400 million screeds which will drive police numbers down to the lowest in 20 years. my own borough already has 198 police officers. does the prime minister still think we have the be services we need? we're not producing metropolitan police's budget. we are protecting police budgets. they were protected in the spending review. there is more money and more officers for each london road velani where else in the country. of course, it is up to the mayor of london to decide how that money is spent. she also raised the important issue of scooter crime. the home secretary has held a round table with police and others in the home office to look at how this can be better addressed. the industrial strategy identifies that the world will need 60% more

food by 2050. as we leave the eu, will the prime minister commit to supporting our farmers? i'm very, very happy to commit to supporting ourfarmers. i'm very, very happy to commit to supporting our farmers. in i'm very, very happy to commit to supporting ourfarmers. in fact, markets for british food are growing around the world and we want to see those markets grow even further. leaving the eu means we will have an opportunity to design a new approach to agricultural policy, one that supports farmers to grow more, sell more and export more of their world class products. what we will be doing is ensuring we have an agricultural policy that actually meet the needs of the united kingdom. this week motor manufacturers announced a year—on—year drop in car sales of over 11%. they blamed confusion caused by the government's incoherent policy on clean air and

diesel, budget measures and uncertainty caused by brexit. this industry is vital for both the national economy and jobs in the west midlands. what is the government going to do to turn this around? can i say to the honourable gentleman that if he had listened to the answer i gave earlier, he would have heard how we are supporting the automotive industry, crucially supporting the future of the automotive industry. we recognise its importance for the west midlands and its importance for the united kingdom. that is why it is one of those sectors we are clear in our industrial strategy we will be supporting, so we can support those jobs and prosperity for the future. would my right honourable friend confirmed she is aware of the strong enthusiasm for a trade deals with the uk from countries like canada, japan, the united states, australia? and even for participation, uk

participation, in the trans—pacific partnership? but none of these opportunities will come our way if we remained shackled to eu legislation after we leave the eu. i'm very happy to say to my honourable friend that i do recognise the enthusiasm there is out there around the rest of the world to do trade deals with the rest of the —— with other countries. the trade secretary was in australia recently discussing these opportunities. when i go round the world i also hear the same message from a variety of countries. they wa nt to from a variety of countries. they want to do trade deals with us in the future. we want to make sure we get a good trade deal with the united —— european union and the ability to negotiate around the rest of the world. 0n of the world. on monday evening during the opening speeches of eu withdrawal bill, the government bench showed its true colours. revealed where the imperial british government's intentions spelt out in red, white and blue.

would the prime minister care to echo the chair of the welsh select committee, it is a power grab and what a wonderful power grab it is to? will she admit the scrabble to repatriate powers from brussels provides a grubby excuse to deny our democratic in wales? i think the honourable lady knows full well that what my honourable friend was saying was that what we will be doing when we leave the european union is grabbing powers back from brussels to the united kingdom. and that is exactly right. and following that we do expect to see a significant increase in the decision—making power of devolved administrations as a result of that. and that is absolutely right. but of plaid cymru are saying they want to see powers rest in brussels, we take a different view. we want those powers to be here in the united

kingdom. today short listed cities are making their final today short listed cities are making theirfinal pitch in today short listed cities are making their final pitch in the today short listed cities are making theirfinal pitch in the campaign today short listed cities are making their final pitch in the campaign to be named uk city of culture in 2021. will the prime ministerjoin me in wishing the stoke—on—trent team every su ccess in wishing the stoke—on—trent team every success in their bid to see stoke—on—trent become the next capital of culture for britain? well, i would capital of culture for britain? well, iwould be capital of culture for britain? well, i would be very happy to visit stoke on trent and a couple of occasions. —— i have been very happy to visit stoke—on—trent on a number of occasions. i have to say to my honourable friend i have been asked about a number of other bids from cities around the united kingdom, and i'm sure all of those cities have extremely good cases to be recognised as well. order. that is the end of prime minister's questions. dominated, as everybody was expecting really, by brexit and the stalling of those talks in brussels, although the prime minister, who did speak before

prime minister, who did speak before prime minister's questions to arlene foster, the leader of the dup about the question of the irish border, mrs may still saying she is optimistic, saying there are a couple of points still to negotiate with the eu that others were more critical of. jeremy corbyn in particular. jacob rees—mogg, leading brexiteer on the tory backbenches, wondering if she needed some more red paint to brush up redlines. he felt they had become blurred in brussels. she was asked interestingly about the expectation that donald trump and his administration are about to recognise jerusalem is administration are about to recognisejerusalem is the capital of israel. asked if she would condemn that, she said she did intend to speak to mr trump about the status ofjerusalem, which she says should be determined as part of a settlement between israel and the palestinians. brexit also featuring earlier on in

the house of commons. more now on the government admitting it hasn't carried out so—called impact assessments of how leaving the eu might affect the british economy. appearing before the brexit committee this morning, david davis claimed it would be hard to predict the economic effects of brexit, but said officials would do the work "at some stage". the chair of the exiting the european union committee, hilary benn, asked the brexit secretary exactly which sectors had been analysed. so there isn't one, for example, for the automotive sector? not that i am aware of. aerospace? no. no to all of them. doesn't it strike you as rather strange, given the experience around the committee you have, the government undertakes impact assessments on all sorts of things all the time, yet on the most fundamental change we face as a

country, you have said the government has not undertaken any assessments at all. the first thing to say, mrchairman, is when these sectoral analyses we re initiated they were done to understand the effect of various options. what the outcome would be. you don't need a formal impact assessments to understand that if there is a regulatory hurdle between our producers and the market that will have an impact, an effect. we will at some stage do the best we can to quantify the effect of different negotiating outcomes, as we come up to them. we have not started phase two yet. in particular we will try to assess, well, in bigger categories, the effect of various outcomes in financial services. we will try and assess the effect of various outcomes in terms

of the overarching manufacturing sector. we will do that closer to the negotiating time. they fall precisely in that area which i described as negotiation sensitive. if, for example, i had two options for an industry that our negotiating with the european union, and one of them would be beneficial to the tune of i don't know, 50 billion, of the air, and the other option would be negative by10 million, i'm not going to publish thatjust before going to negotiation with the commission. that is the point. when they come, i could tell you they are there but i can't given to the committee at that point. brexit secretary david davis speaking earlier. a sanctuary in ukraine is providing

a second chance for bears rescued in captivity. translation: when a bear is depressed he sleeps all day because he does not feel confident. these brown bears were mistreated by their previous owners. now this state run sanctuary in the ukraine is giving them a second chance at life. free from cruelty and in their natural habitat. the stress of life in captivity makes bears physically and mentally ill. translation: you see he is anxious.

he doesn't want to come here. this pair fears freedom after spending yea rs pair fears freedom after spending years in cramped cages. —— bearer. he is one of 25 brown bears in western ukraine. they have been rescued from circuses and zoos are confiscated at airports. —— or. translation: little girl, come here. these cubs arrived at the rehabilitation centre two years ago. they were confiscated from smugglers at kiev airport. they were brought to us. captive bears often have open wounds from wearing tight collars. some are blind and suffer from muscle wastage.

translation: circus bears her... as soon as a translation: circus bears her... as soon as a bear becomes sick, it becomes a burden. they are then put down or used as bait to train hunting dogs. there are only 300 brown bears left in ukraine. half of them live in captivity. for these bears, there are days of misery have finally come to an end, but they will never be able to live in the wild unaided. news just able to live in the wild unaided. newsjust coming in able to live in the wild unaided. news just coming in from westminster magistrates' court. a man has appeared in court charged with terrorism offences, including sharing the address of prince george's school with potential attackers. he is accused of creating

channels or groups to assist terroristss by providing guides, tips and suggested targets for attacks. they included a picture of prince george and details of the school, it is alleged, as well as information about stadium. the 31—year—old from nelson, lancashire, also accused of planning to travel to areas of syria to join the fighting with islamic state. he was remanded in custody to appear at the 0ld remanded in custody to appear at the old bailey on the 20 —— 20th of december. ina december. in a moment we will have the bbc news at one. before that, the weather. good afternoon. lots to tell you about in terms of the weather. we start off with an amber warning issued by the met office for a potentially disruptive wins —— winds

in central scotland and northern parts of northern ireland. 0n thursday we will see the arrival of storm caroline, bringing wet and windy and disruptive weather. things turn colderfor windy and disruptive weather. things turn colder for the rest of the week with snow and ayes in places. we are seeing this weather front moving into the north tonight. the winds picking up, particularly through the irish sea coasts are parts of scotland, gales or severe gales possible. it remains mild overnight with the cloud, wind and rain. if we look at storm caroline, which will be developing overnight tonight and through the day on thursday, some tight isobars through the day on thursday, some tight isoba rs packed through the day on thursday, some tight isobars packed around that. we will see the strongest of the winds in northern and central scotland, northern parts of northern ireland. some of the ghosts reaching 80 mph. very windy day really across the country. the main band of heavy rain and strong winds clears from the south—east of england. further north

we stick with those very strong disruptive winds. they will bring in some wintry showers. showers in the north and west turning increasingly to sleet and snow as the temperatures really dropped following the strongest of the winds. storm caroline clears to the north—east as we move through thursday night into friday. those isobars head towards the arctic. in northerly blast of cold air coming in. a real different feel to the weather as we had through friday. a north—westerly wind on friday. another windy day. that wind brings some showers of sleet and snow across much of scotland, northern ireland, north—west england. sunny spells away from those wintry showers but it really will field —— feel subzero when you add on the wind chill. 0n feel subzero when you add on the wind chill. on saturday a small ridge high—pressure dries things up for a time. then potentially a spell of significant funk —— snowfall through the second part of the

weekend. through the weekend things will stay cold with wintry showers. the potential for significant snow on sunday. keep an eye on the latest warnings. goodbye for now. president trump is expected to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel, as arab leaders warn it could jepordise the peace process. it's a dramatic break with decades of us policy. it's thought the president will also announce plans to move the us embassy to jerusalem — prompting international concern. we view the reports we've heard with concern because we think that jerusalem, obviously, should be part of the final settlement between the israelis and the palestinians, a negotiated settlement, that we want. we'll have the latest from washington. also this lunch time: a 20—year—old man has appeared in court accused of a plot to bomb downing street and kill the prime minister. a mane peers in court charged with

terrorism offences, including