i the ithe road see themselves as middle of the road labour supporters who believe that europe is in fact the future? absolutely. so, is it a problem or is ita absolutely. so, is it a problem or is it a strength? it is working out pretty good if you take the view that the brexit will unravel, because the promises they made cannot be delivered, and we've seen some of that already, the fact that we could walk away without paying any money — well, that didn't work out. so, from his perspective may be the thing is to sit back and not express a view and let everyone else's view be shown to be inaccurate. that's theresa may has now moved onto the second stage of negotiations to talk trade — and it could go swimmingly from there, so it isa could go swimmingly from there, so it is a fine line for labour?” think for them it is about momentum and keeping it up, and as thomas says, clarifying some of the issues which got them the support in the first place. i think there was definitely a ground swell, particularly amongst younger voters

perhaps, for clarity — they want to know where labour stands. the daily telegraph, tom, mr heseltine, he should lose the whip apparently? yes, some very outraged people! current and former tory grandees. it isa current and former tory grandees. it is a statement made by michael has a time in the past day or two around the conundrum that people may face upon whether to vote corbyn with the aim of having a softer brexit, or potentially remaining, and doing it out of interest for the economy and the country generally, or voting conservative, and i gets the calculus here is, if you don't support naturally labour, if you're a tory, you might think, he's got all these terrible ideas, he wants to nationalise the railways, increase taxes... and the view of mr has a time is that if it all comes to pass, and, of course, that is

uncertain, then we could change it in four years' uncertain, then we could change it in fouryears' time, uncertain, then we could change it in four years' time, whereas brexit, thatis in four years' time, whereas brexit, that is forever. and these are the kind of things which come up, we had people like the bush family coming out and saying that would not be voting for trump. he's not looking for a cabinet is a shot at this point in time, mr heseltine, but of course many people are happy to say he should lose the whip. why should he should lose the whip. why should he lose the whip over saying something like this, i don't understand? i agree with you, i think the rhetoric itself is not actually that surprising, coming from him as well. but i think taking the sea word, corbyn, it is another level i suppose! but these aren't labour supporters who are angry that he mentioned jeremy corbyn, these are people within the conservative

party, so why are they angry that he has spoken about brexit in this way, because we know he was a remainer, we know he is pro—eu. because we know he was a remainer, we know he is pro-eu. as josey said, mentioning his name and prime minister in the same sentence perhaps! before the election we had the position of the conservative party that it was just inconceivable thatjeremy party that it was just inconceivable that jeremy corbyn would be prime minister, because his policies were too left—field. now, we're actually seeing a senior conservative talking about, actually it might not be such about, actually it might not be such a bad thing. so, forthem... about, actually it might not be such a bad thing. so, for them... so, is it the calculation that it would be better... ? it the calculation that it would be better. . . ? i had it the calculation that it would be better...? i had a it the calculation that it would be better. . . ? i had a conversation with a senior banker a few days ago who said, absolutely labour would be a better option, because the concern is that the conservative party has already ta ken is that the conservative party has already taken their industry to the edge of the cliff, and many of them seem edge of the cliff, and many of them seem to want to go over it as

quickly as possible. so, this banker is saying, i could face higher tax but the other alternative is no industry whatsoever, if we continue to go with a hard brexit with the conservative party. 0k. well, if thatis conservative party. 0k. well, if that is what he is saying, then that is very interesting! the times, josie, apparently david davis, the brexit secretary, has been sidelined asa brexit secretary, has been sidelined as a civil servant takes over the brexit negotiations — could this be true? if it is, it is certainly a very worrying development. the person in question apparently taking over response abilities is oliver robins, the former permanent secretary. the times cites these sources and it would be quite worrying. they say that he has gone ona worrying. they say that he has gone on a significantly more official visits to brussels than mr davies between july and september,

visits to brussels than mr davies betweenjuly and september, and that he now also reports directly to theresa may. now, ithink he now also reports directly to theresa may. now, i think the interesting thing here is that david davis has of course been the face of brexit, and as we all know, the negotiations have not exactly gone swimmingly despite the recent breakthrough. so, perhaps this is a development which is from the eu side, a move away from david davis in an attempt to try and sort of make that process easier, and try and remove some of the barriers that have perhaps been in place. has david davis been seen as a stumbling block? one of the things, of course, with the latest breakthrough, which was basically britain gave the eu most of what it wanted, so it is a capitulation...! i'm most of what it wanted, so it is a capitulation. . .! i'm sure most of what it wanted, so it is a capitulation...! i'm sure theresa may would not look at it that way, she would say she has done rather well! when you get to about 90% of what they're asking for, most people

would consider that to be a good negotiation! but there have been questions, in that case, of course, people say theresa may stepped in to confirm her hand and this particular civil servant is now of course her civil servant is now of course her civil servant, within her department. but also over recent months, the depiction of david davis' competence is not quite what it used to be. the depiction, or his competence itself?! i cannot speak in detail about that! but certainly arriving for the beginning of the negotiations with no paperwork whatsoever across the table from people who have stacks of it, which is of course going to be photographed and tweeted almost instantaneously, did not start off very well, giving interviews where he said, i don't have to be clever in myjob, ijust have to be very calm. calmness is not necessarily associated with cleverness in terms of the intellectual spectrum, so he's choosing words and things where

he's choosing words and things where he does not really elevate himself necessarily. so, the position, his position, does not seem to be one but has really been enhanced through the last six months or so. but he will still be there at the press conference with michel barnier, right? after whatever discussions ta ke right? after whatever discussions take place? you would think so but i guess... anything could happen! it could be the civil servant! ok! staying with the guardian, the poorest, josie, will be faring worse in the age of automation with jobs threatened and £90 billion in wages? i suppose it is not very surprising that we got the robot story between christmas and new year, because it isa christmas and new year, because it is a traditionally quieter news time and robots always make for good discussion. it is a report from a left—leaning think—tank, which is saying that robots, i should say automation, isn't necessarily going to ta ke automation, isn't necessarily going to take overjobs, it is not going

to take overjobs, it is not going to create a society where robots do all of ourjobs for us, but it could contribute to a reader tradition of wealth, which could lead to more inequality. the logic behind it is that the low—wage jobs are most likely to be automated in future, and that as a result of that, wages will get pushed up at the top end. the think—tank is calling on the government to do whatever it can to prevent that from happening, to maintain the balance. what would you do, then? a lot of it is about including things in the industrial strategy that will educate employers around retraining staff where necessary , around retraining staff where necessary, making sure that people can be redeployed into different roles that aren't automated. and just making the workforce future proof, i suppose. i suppose making sure that society is aware of the spectrum of consequences that there could well be as a result of automation. very much. the question

is, do you take incremental measures like that, or do you look more fundamentally at things like minimum wage, universal... robot taxes, an idea that bill gates came up with. so, we have not necessarily, we have had the gig economy but we have not adopted regulations very quickly to that and we have ended up in situations — the question is, can we move faster on this trend? and finally, the daily express, new pensions disaster, rip—off fees, we knew this, didn't we? we did, it seems the city regulator has come out with some new data to show that most people are staying with an existing provider when they ask the provider to take it out and put it into something which is more accessible to them. and the provider typically charges higher fees. fees

are the kind of things which can destroy your pension, if you listen to warren buffett, he said that's the surest thing to make you poorer. these were very controversial measures, giving people access to use their money as they wish rather than to purchase an annuity. we're really starting to see more and more data that raises the question as to whether people will be financially better off as a result of this. but putting power into people's hands was seen as a good thing by some people, when mr osborne decided to make these changes? and it was welcome to largely at the time. but i think increasingly over the last couple of years, what we've seen is that the responsibility that comes with that is perhaps not hatched by the education that pensioners have around this. and we've seen examples of this which are terrible but also exa m ples of of this which are terrible but also examples of scams, where pensioners are accessing their pension pot, because they want that money, and they haven't got, returns are

terrible elsewhere, in bonds, for example, and they‘ re terrible elsewhere, in bonds, for example, and they're accessing that money, and doing irresponsible things with it just money, and doing irresponsible things with itjust because they don't have the education. so this is going to shine a fresh light on the responsibility of the regulators etc. all does yellow lamborghinis that we're seeing whizzing around out there as a result of this! thank you to both of you. coming up next, it's the weather. if you are stepping outside during tonight or tomorrow morning, prepare for some slippery conditions because we've had some wintry weather today, some snow here close to aberdeen and as we've gone into the evening, the skies have been mainly clear overhead. with clear skies tonight,

we'll see a widespread frost and potentially some icy stretches as well. ice may form just about anywhere but especially where we keep wintry showers, northern scotland and northern ireland down into wales and the midlands and also where we had a lot of rain, sleet and snow in the south east. widely temperatures below freezing, some spots, even where we have snow cover, will get well below freezing. thursday starting on a cold note. there may be some freezing fog over northern ireland and if they form, they could be very persistent and stubborn to clear into the afternoon. northern scotland will see some wintry showers, sunshine is the main story across scotland. temperatures struggling to get over freezing and if the fog lingers in northern ireland, your temperatures will struggle to get above freezing as well. for england and wales, sunshine but 2—5d is your lot. in the far south—west, more cloud and some rain. this is quite a weak weather system, it will bring little bits of rain. into the early hours of friday,

a more active system is coming in from the atlantic bringing rain but snow over northern ireland, wales, the midlands, initially on high ground but over northern england and southern scotland the potential for snow accumulating to low levels. a lot of uncertainty about how disruptive it will be. friday, cold in the north but climbing temperatures in the south. it is the story of climbing temperatures that takes us into the weekend. friday night will bring another frontal system that may bring some snow in northern areas but with these south—westerly winds, strong winds, temperatures will climb especially in the south where saturday will bring a high of 13 degrees. a mixture of sunshine and rain. still cold in the north but even here, temperatures climbing. not a bad day, a lot of dry weather and spells of sunshine. this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie.

the headlines at 11:00: the met office issues 15 weather warnings, as snow and ice cause problems in most parts of the uk. we are stationary here, on the a14, not going anywhere. i've been here for five hours, and... so have these! and the runway at stansted airport was closed twice, with some passengers spending hours on planes, stuck on runways. the first of a group of critically ill syrian children, are allowed to leave a rebel held area of damascus. laura plummer, the britonjailed in egypt for drug offences, has been moved to a different egyptian prison. also in the next hour: prince harry takes a turn editing the today programme on radio 4. he interviewed the former us president, barack obama,