not that you can tell by looking — but it's very cold in britian. a meteorologist there explains why. is from the committed himself to backing. .. potentially is from the committed himself to backing... potentially turning politics upside down. if that sounds like an exaggeration, let me be clear. it may turn out not to have any clear. it may turn out not to have a ny affect clear. it may turn out not to have any affect at all. it is all going to hinge on the next few weeks. and whether mr corbyn can master a majority in favour of his new post customs union stands. if he can come of the whole box of negotiation will change. but here's the thing, tory rebels now do we decide whether we go for the softer brexit or not. they have to decide whether to vote with jeremy corbyn

they have to decide whether to vote withjeremy corbyn or theresa may. they will be less likely to go with mr corbyn if they think it will make him prime minister. we're in for some times. not what was in coventry to watch the liberal leader said that his approach. pin nick watt was in coventry. and today, jeremy corbyn used the example of the modern mini to demonstrate the need for the uk to establish what he called a new, comprehensive customs system with the eu. the mini, or at least parts of it, crosses the channel three times before it rolls off the production line, this highlights the need to maintain whatjeremy corbyn described as a frictionless, interwoven supply chain. we've long argued that we need a customs deal.

labour would seek a new, comprehensive customs union. to make sure there are no tariffs. and to avoid any need whatsoever for any hard border in northern ireland. a customs union with the eu would allow the uk to participate in core elements of the customs union. this would guarantee tariff free trading with the eu. minimal customs checks with the eu. and levying the common external tariff on goods from outside the eu. the labour leader addressed the central reason why theresa may is rejecting both a customs union and the customs union, that is the need for the uk to be able to negotiate its own trade deals beyond the eu. he would set, as a condition for his proposed new customs union, a definitive uk say in future eu trade deals.

a new customs arrangement would depend on britain being able to negotiate agreement for new trade deals in our national interest. labour would not countenance a deal that left britain as a passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others that would mean ending up as a mere rule taker. it was no mistake thatjeremy corbyn chose coventry, which voted leave. he wanted to show that he intends to abide by the letter and the spirit of brexit by negotiating a bespoke relationship with the eu. today's speech was the culmination of painstaking negotiations within the shadow cabinet. jeremy corbyn has historically been wary of the eu, which he criticised today for embedding free—market orthodoxy. but there are more enthusiastic supporters of the eu in the shadow cabinet, and they were delighted when the labour leader also talked about forging a close relationship

with the single market. i spoke to one ally ofjeremy corbyn, who said it is right he has taken time to adapt his position. this person said to me, why let the blairite agitators claim the credit for this? and also, why not let the tories suffer a little on brexit? one veteran labour eurosceptic welcomed jeremy corbyn‘s intervention in light of his pledge to shape future trade deals to help poorer countries. jeremy knows that this is a game changer for europe. not for him. and he will set out his position. and he will then show here is somebody more sceptical than me about the european union, who has tried his level best to get an agreement off them. and what have they done? i would have thought they would tell him to run and jump, but he will show the country that he was serious in trying

to negotiate and he will get credit for that. the icon of the left cited an icon of britain's motoring history to inject new movement into the brexit process. theresa may will respond on friday, but her fragile hold over parliament means the leader of the opposition may well have a role in shaping the outcome. in a moment, we'll hearfrom one of labour's front bench, and a leading tory, but first i'm joined by nick watt and our business editor helen thomas. we will reflect on this. i'm interested in looking at whether labour's support for the customs union membership means will it happen and what it means for the government. it is possible to visualise some dramatic consequences of all of this. let's go through this.

how do mps get to exert a vote on the customs union from this point? three ways in which a customs union could be put into law. jeremy corbyn will table an amendment to the trade bill, calling for a customs union. highly unlikely to see that going through because i don't envision tory rebels voting for that. the second option is this cross—party amendment that would be tabled by anna soubry for the tories and chuka umunna for labour. we had a precedent where the tories defeated the government. that could go through. the other option is the separate eu withdrawal bill which is currently in the house of lords. you will find that peers will try to amend that bill to put in a customs union and the thing for the government is, they would then have to get the numbers in the commons to overturn that. let's go through the maths. three key numbers. the government's working majority with the dup. the number of labour rebels who will support the government on brexit, who add to that majority. then you can calculate how many tory rebels then need to be to make

customs union happen. let's go through those. at the risk of trying to outbid you of all people on numbers. the government's effective working majority with the help of the dup and house of commons is 13. it's widely assumed there are seven labour brexit rebels, in other words they will vote down the line with the government on brexit, which effectively gives the government a majority of 27. you must double the 7. that means you then need 1a tory rebels to overturn that. although when the government was defeated in december on that dominic grieve amendment on a future vote he managed to muster 12 conservative mps. very finely balanced. one of the techniques we've heard that the government may adopt is to say, you are notjust voting on customs union, you are voting on the future of the government. a confidence motion.

does that work? it is no tojohn major in 1993. he was in trouble on the maastricht treaty. crucial vote. he tapped a no—confidence, confidence motion that vote and he saw it through. you can't do that now. the only no—confidence vote you can have is strictly prescribed by the fixed term parliament and the wording in that motion has to be that this house has no confidence in that... and you cannot bundle it altogether. exactly. you could do yesterdayjohn major in 1995 when he challenged his party and said, back me or sack me. he resigned as leader. you could see theresa may saying to the conservative rebels, thinking of backing perhaps the anna soubry amendment, watch out, you would enable jeremy corbyn, if you do that i will trigger a contest. it's very interesting, the politics. the politics are where a lot of the actions are going to be. but it was interesting to watch

business coming out... quite positive, wasn't it? the cbi have welcomed this, called it a real—world solution. aerospace in defence. big industry body, they also welcomed this. but it wasn't universal. british chambers of commerce dismissed this as all politics. there was an acknowledgement that there is reliance on big business with the labour party feeling old. the cbi had this morning about businesses having their eyes wide open on labour's overall rhetoric on renationalisation. some of the things labour is asking for, about clarifications to state aid, competition rules, privatisation, and so on, reflect domestic policies. cherry picking from the eu the things they wouldn't be able to do but would like to do. in terms of the practical differences, customs union versus no customs union. how big a deal is this? everybody says they will trade to be as frictionless as possible. it is about how you want to achieve that and how realistic that is. the government wants to be able

to strike its own trade deals. it wants to rely on managed divergence. more divergence in some areas than others to stay as close as possible to the eu to allow it to get a favourable trade deal. is that cherry picking? they claim it might be. they talked about having a say in trade deals and the national interest, but they seem to be talking about having a say in future a you to does as part of some kind of block, not striking out on their owi'i. “— of block, not striking out on their own. —— in future eu trade deals as pa rt of own. —— in future eu trade deals as part of some sort of block. i spoke to one person tonight who said this at least let the door open to staying in the single market for good. total alignment on rules and regulations for goods. half of the single market. and that solves your problem in ireland. the hit is what happens to services

crucial to the uk economy and the city, of course. nick, in two sentences, is it possible there are people in the government who want the mps to vote us into a customs union because they want to be in one? that's the case. some remain ministers are hoping parliament will do the heavy lifting. i spoke to somebody not a million miles away from a labour cabinet minister who said we hope that parliament will do our work for us. thanks. we did ask the government if they wanted to come on tonight, but they weren't particularly interested. but the two really important groups are labour and the tory rebels and we've got them both represented in the studio. we're joined by barry gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, and the conservative mp, sarah wollaston. hello. some think this is politicking by the labour party plaintiffs in

parliament. is it that or is this a principled decision?” parliament. is it that or is this a principled decision? i think helen was absolutely right. this decision has been taking because it's absolving that uncertainty. but hanging overfor the absolving that uncertainty. but hanging over for the last 20 months. people have been think him a look, we need to happening with our supply chains. we need to know what is going to happen in terms of any ta riffs going to happen in terms of any tariffs or quotas that may arise between us and the other 27 countries. what we're trying to do is bring some innovative thinking here and say, look, if we were in government, and were not, we accept that. we know we are not in government at the moment, but if we were, this is how we would want to conduct the negotiations. . it would provide two solutions, up with to the issue businesses face and a good step towards solving the irish problem. i'm interested, if let's support you get the votes

as you want in parliament, to insist on britain staying in a customs union, is it your position that theresa may can stay in government? stay as prime minister to deliver the brexit she said she doesn't want to deliver? of course i would love to see the government... of course you would, because you're in opposition. is it your position you don't say she has to resign as a result of a defeat upon that vote? that is not in our gift. we cannot force the sitting prime minister to resign. the only people that can do that as i understand it, are the 1922 committee or she herself could take that decision, or it would have to go to the vote that says, you know, it is no confidence. i want to be clear, if she loses that vote, i think tory rebels maybe interested in this, are you going to say, we need an election, a confidence vote, get out of office.

it is time forjeremy corbyn to become prime minister? or will you say, there we are, now theresa mayjust carry on as you carry on most days? i think the real debate here will be in the conservative party. you're not going to call for it? the tory rebels won't join you if they think it is about getting jeremy corbyn in no 10. they will if it is a customs union. that is why it is important to understand whatever we say the day after any vote does not change the facts on the ground that this is not in our gift, it is in theirs. that does sound like you're wooing tory rebels by trying to say it is not about getting theresa may out. the people that i am interested in here are not the tory rebels. it is actually the people out there injobs, that are depending on these industries and need to know they're going to have jobs in two years time, three years time and that what is the move that jeremy corbyn‘s made

is going facilitate. you said interesting, it is the phrase you have used all day, it is a step towards solving the problem of irish border. it does not solve it. britain has committed to something in the joint report that is being written up and we have signed up to alignment of all relative... relevant regulations that would you know be necessary for a border to be open. are you signed up to that? look, i think there is a really difficult problem with the irish border, and i think it's going to involve compromise on both sides from us and... it's all been agreed, britain has signed a joint report. it is the government's agreement. would you renounce what they have signed? look, don't try and bind us by what an incompetent prime minister has done to try

and make sure that she can square the circle within her own cabinet. what are the europeans going to think, are you going to say you're not standing by the agreement that was signed? i can dispute the question, jeremy corbyn set out labour's position, that we want to honour the good friday agreement, we think it is fundamental that we have the border without infrastructure. everybody says this. we have reached an agreement that said there will be alignment between the uk and the eu on product regulation, if it is necessary for no border. and you are in agreement with that, you're not renouncing the agreement that britain made in december, so in effect we are half in the single market as a result of that aren't we? actually, we are not the government. we are not conducting

these negotiations. but it would be interesting to know what you would do if you were. i think what you have got to do is see how the whole political situation evolves and with that we will try and always as we have done today, keep one step ahead of government, but do it in line with the principles we set out that we recognise the benefits of both the single market and the customs union. you're very reticent about spelling it out, but we get the point. sarah, you support a customs union. why is that? a customs union, even a partial one. it is about avoiding a no—deal walkaway brexit. it's not trying to force theresa may to resign. of course i don't want to see that. but i do think it may help her, she will be able to turn around to the 62 who are threatening to force her to, into

a leadership contest, it would enable her to explain the reality there isn't parliamentary majority for a hard brexit and she can go back... i have done my best. it is absolutely clear that the unintended consequences are difficult. given a free vote, what would be the majority nor a customs union? —— fora —— for a customs union? huge, because many ministers and ppss and other people who are not able to sign amendments who would very much like to see us come to a customs arrangement of some sort. i think this will help. what happened when theresa may says i'm treating this as a confidence issue? are you going to walk through the lobby with jeremy corbyn?

that is not practical, because of the fixed term parliament act and the people who are trying to force her into some kind of leadership challenge are the 62 who are on the other end of this who actually... she may try to pull it and say formally there is no thing that forces a confidence vote. but i will resign and there will be chaos if my party does not back me. back me or sack me. why would she do that? the consequences would be terrible. yes, it would be terrible. i think the right thing would be to call those of us who have concerns about this and talk to us about the concerns and see if we can find a way forward. why do you think she has given so much? she said she became prime minister

to those 62 to what, the ones who want the hard brexit do you think? well, i don't know. i think the parliamentary arithmetic is there. there is no majority in parliament or the lords for a hard walkaway no deal brexit. there is going to have to be a compromise. that addresses the concerns and the fudge around the irish border and that is going to need to address things like regulatory alignment, we have to look at all of this. is it your position that we are going to have to align a lot of our product regulations with the eu? and we have been told there will be no sector by sector deal. the idea there will be a special arrangement to give state aid is for the birds. the tory party has the most enormous adjustments to make in their expectations.

the alternative is what we must do is explain what it means. so as chair of the health and social care committee, i have been listening to evidence around the consequences for pharmaceuticals for example, if we have no regulatory alignment. you know, we are looking at the supply chains are very complex for pharmaceuticals and things like medical devices like dialysis tubing that aren't manufactured here. we are looking at serious hold ups unless we have some... theresa may will give a speech on friday, we think we know a lot of it, if she offers some morsel on a customs agreement, will that do? i don't mind what we call it. but it must address whether we will see serious hold ups at the border, and will it address

the northern ireland issue. we need to address them or explain what the consequences would be. we need to discuss what it means if we have a hard brexit. thank you very much. maybe you will be voting together very soon. when you look at the countries with the longest serving leaders, you may not always feel they have the most enviable political systems. equatorial guinea, kazahkstan, cambodia are all up there, with leaders who've been in powerfor decades. and depending how you count it, paul biya of camaroon holds the current record, he's been either prime minister or president there since harold wilson was in power here. but it is to avoid the traps of long—serving leaders losing touch that so many countries have limits on the number of terms leaders can stay in power. now, in china, the ruling

communist party has proposed a rule change that would remove presidential term limits and allow president xi jinping to extend his rule there indefinitely. not everyone is keen on the change. it's provoked a backlash on social media and some critics have expressed concerns that the move is reminiscent of the last chinese leader to rule without term limits, chairman mao. well, i am joined now by author and commentator diane wei liang and by professor steve tsang from the school of oriental and african studies. firstly, is this going to happen do you think? absolutely, it will happen, and this is actually one of the steps that's been planned over the years. if you recall, xijinping was elected core leader of china not long ago and he was given the supreme power and now there is a constitutional change. so it has been going on and it has been not only going on on the surface of the power

struggle, but behind the doors, where xi had managed to depose a lot of people who were potentially be able to challenge him in power. let's ask why this is happening? what do you think is going on here? is this man just a megalomaniac? two reasons. one, he is doing it now because he can. he has consolidated his position. he is in a sweet spot, and the resistance within the party won't be able to stop him. he liked the idea that after 2023, he can still go on formal state visits. that is the only... you think he is interested in the trappings of... that is the only difference for him to stay on as state president or not. hang on, he is running

the country, isn't he? he gets to more than just the fancy banquets and the nice car? well, he doesn't run the country as president of china. he runs the country as general secretary of the communist party of china. there is no term limits to how many time he can serve as general secretary. he indicated last october that he would stay on as general secretary. president itself is irrelevant, but it is the trappings of power. is that correct? i don't believe that is the case. let's remember how the term limit came it was put by deng, who was not president. but he had power behind the scene. it was after mao's death that the term limits were put in the power of china to get away

with what had been in chinese history, there has never been term limits for communist leaders or emperors. that was his way to reform the system. it was a big reform. do you believe in term limits, you have to look around the world and people who have been power more than 12 years generally have lost it? yes, iagree. i think ten years is as long as you should be holding a top office in any country in any government. i'm not saying that xi jinping is doing the right thing, i'm saying that he is doing it because he thinks this is the right thing for him to do for china, to xi jinping, he is china. do you think it is more than a bit ominous? is this a step back for the idea that chinese democracy would,

china as its economy develops would liberalise and become more liberal? the west had never been embraced by china. xi jinping is what we call the red princeling. his father was one of marshals who founded communist china and he grew up thinking it was his destiny to rule china. perhaps he feels duty to the country. but it has been in his psyche regardless what happened to his father in the cultural revolution, where he was deposed by mao himself. so he grew up in such a way and when he took power, i don't believe he would end up in the sweet spot by accident. it has been carefully planned. there was a social media backlash in china yesterday and people saying he is trying to make it

like north korea, which is quite a stretch. in a sense, that is a good sign that the people are willing to say, who is this guy? and it shows all those voices have been harmonised. they have been shut up. and that is how you create a harmonious society. you harmonise. you remove the comments section from below the article. or if the article is not pitching the story in the right tone, that story doesn't get pitched at all. we had better leave it there, thank you. samuel beckett's monologue "not i" is a notoriously challenging text. the playwright‘s own stage directions require that the only thing visible on stage is the actor's mouth and this must be eight feet off the ground.

the latest performer to take the part of ‘mouth' isjess thom, an english artist in her 30s who has tourette's syndrome. she and her audience have to reckon with the verbal and physical tics, which are a feature of her neurological condition, and jess performs while strapped into a wheelchair suspended off the ground by a purpose—built gantry. she's been speaking to stephen smith before "not i" opens at the battersea arts centre in london later this week. lovely. biscuit. i'm going to do a light check. hedgehog. biscuit. cat. hedgehog. biscuit. hedgehog, biscuit, cat. hedgehog. out into this world, this world tiny little thing before its time. what? girl, yes, tiny little girl into this. sat into this before her time. i had never read any beckett before or seen any of his work performed. biscuit.

in fact, i had no idea who he was. but i was instantly drawn to it and it confused and challenged me and bored me and intrigued me. and i really recognised the character of mouth. mouth before it's time. got to taken time. no love. bareback. speechless, all headache. it was only when i started to read it and read the words... come completely, sometimes, some urge. one twice a year, always winter for some strange reason. the long evenings, hours of darkness and a sudden urge to tell. certain lines in the play. biscuit. that when i read them i had a deep connection to. biscuit. lines like, "whole body like gone". biscuit. and, "mouth on fire". "stream of words." biscuit. they're not things that i need to imagine. biscuit. they're part of my living experience, biscuit, every day. there are some bits that made me laugh out loud and if it hadn't been written years before i was born, i might have been tempted to call a lawyer. cat. biscuit. long hours of darkness. now this, quicker and quicker

the words to blame. flicker away like mad. and somewhere else... beckett's "not i" is a woman's oblique and rambling account of her life and its sometimes traumatic experiences. not know knowing what, what she was trying. no matter keep on. biscuit. in the end. biscuit, biscuit, biscuit biscuit, biscuit, biscuit. i'm often surprised by my tics and they can certainly, biscuit, because it's funny and surreal in the way that the conscious way of me can only dream of. biscuit. hedgehog. cat. when you get home, is this area all bruised here? is that you, a tic, or that is you controlling your tics, or what is it? no, that's a tic. that's just a motor tic. i have had that tic for many years. biscuit. when it first started, the first few months, my chest bruised terribly. but then my body adapted and i've got a nice smooth lump there, but it doesn't bruise at all any more. i do wear padded gloves. biscuit.

they're mainly to stop my knuckles getting cracked and bloody. it's funny that my chest is quite strong and my knuckles are the weakest link. cat. jess thom sometimes appears in the persona of the tourette's hero. her production of "not i" is nothing if not inclusive and will be interpreted in british sign language for deaf spectators. there's a strange line to be walked between being very familiar with it, so it is almost like a dance and also being loose enough with it and listening carefully enough that if a "biscuit" gets thrown in ora hedgehog, i can put that in as well. back in warning, facing the grass. biscuit. biscuit, biscuit, biscuit. when i am performing i feel mostly most of the images take place in this area and then the "biscuit" takes me away. but you know... that's the tic. so that's what it is.

so it is very much, you know that people in the theatre like to say, "oh it's a different show every night," but it really is, isn't it? yes. it is. i got drawn to performing, because of some very difficult experiences that i had accessing live performance, particularly a show where i was asked to move to a sound booth at the interval, because of the noises i was making, despite having done lots of preparation beforehand and the performer and the theatre knowing and introducing me to the audience. despite all that planning, i was still asked to move and it made me feel like theatre wasn't a space that i could occupy. i promised myself that i, biscuit, hedgehog, would never set foot in another theatre again. biscuit. but thankfully that is not a promise i kept. going down. level 4. biscuit. underwear and videos. hedgehog. landing. biscuit. more wheels than the moon landing. britain has a remarkably mild

climate for a country so far north. when you look at pyeongchang, where the winter olympics have just closed, or at other host cities of past years, from sochi, to salt lake city to sarajevo, it is interesting to observe that many of them are well south of the uk. take another one for example, sapporo in japan. it is much closer to the equator than the isle of wight is, and yet sapporo is so freezing that it's famous for its amazing annual snow festival. you can see some of the images here. we are spared all that, here because unlike sapporo, we have winds from the west coming off a warm sea. we are usually spared, at least. but occasionally, like this week, the wind flips round, and we go full siberia. and there's a paradox here, we get the cold weather, but up north it is unseasonably warm. —— earlier spoke to erik pedersen. he told us about the unusually warm weather they are experiencing.

it's unusual because normally it should be 17.1 minus. it is a bit warmer than normal. that is warm. well, it isn't warm, but it is a big difference between normality of where you are. does it matter if it is much warmer where you are? it's difficult to move around with our snowmobiles. it's like driving around in a cream. but it's ok. we have tried it before. connect the warm weather you are having to the cold weather we are having. our temperature isn't very different. which is ridiculous. what's happening here?

we have a low point in the middle sea. it is turning that around. it means all of the weather from siberia is going over europe. we are getting the siberian cold air, and you are getting the warm air? the whole thing is going round the wrong way. so when we hear about global warming, it's people like you who are out there in these more remote parts measuring it and monitoring it. yes. if you look at what's been happening in the middle of greenland, you will get a diary from there from many years back. you will see we are on our way into a warmer period. our ice is thinner.

this year, it had broken up. you can see that the ice is broken up. if we get the north wind, we have a big space with open water we can sail in and hunt from boats. it's really unusual. maybe you could give us some advice on how to cope with the cold, now we have your weather? how do you keep warm when you go outside, for example? i have good clothes. i have long johns under them. i have my working trousers insulated, so i don't have to take lots of clothes.

if we have to go on a very long trip on a snowmobile, we have two jackets on. i have a very, very big parka jacket. not much, you just have to dress very warmly, i guess. thank you. lovely to talk to you. thank you forjoining us. you are welcome. that's it for tonight. we leave you with news that remainers were gifted a fresh rendition of an old anthem at the weekend by musician paul weller. on stage in leeds, the formerjam singer dedicated one of his most famous classics specifically to old etonianjacob rees mogg, though why he picked out poorjacob overfellow pupils david cameron or borisjohnson, he didn't explain. with thanks to casper eatwell on youtube for capturing the performance, no prizes for guessing the song. goodnight. is here to stay for the next few

days. that is something a bit milder perhaps arriving for the weekend, but still under the influence of high pressure, the air is coming all the way from siberia, making it feel warm over the next few days, particularly in wednesday. we had some snow showers pushing in, particularly across that snow line as well, and these will continue for the next few hours. that is where we have amber weather warnings that have amber weather warnings that have been issued by the met office, be prepared for some disruptions, we could see 5—10 cm of snow by the door, maybe even more, so that will cause more issues early on. tune in toa cause more issues early on. tune in to a local bbc radio stations if you wa nt to a local bbc radio stations if you want some travel in traffic updates. the snow showers are set to continue

during the morning, being driven in by this brisk northeasterly breeze. the best shelters... but it is still going to be a cold afternoon with 0— 4 degrees at the very best. as we move out of tuesday into wednesday, the emphasis on snow showers dressed a little the further up north, and here we have another amber weather warning issued by the met office, with the northeast of england and it eastern scotland again, as much as 5-10 eastern scotland again, as much as 5—10 seven meters, this snow could be possible to the door, which could lead to some disruption. snow showers look likely on wednesday, being driven by a brisk easterly wind, producing some blizzard like conditions here, it will be eight —— better out there, particularly factoring in the strength of the wind. into the southeast we may have slightly fewer showers, but nevertheless, it will feel freezing out there quite literally. as we move out of wednesday into thursday,

we keep the snow showers for a time up we keep the snow showers for a time up to the north, just wanted to draw your attention to what is happening into the near continent, a deep area of lower pressure is expected to drift up across siberia and into france, eventually into central and southern parts of the uk and note —— northern ireland, where we could for a time seated attentional for district is snowfall. —— disruptive snowfall. this is a newsday on the bbc. rico hizon in singapore. the headlines. chinese censors block all online a debate of the plans to give president xijinping the right debate of the plans to give president xi jinping the right to rule indefinitely, leaving just a few critics of the space to speak out. translation: if the leader stays in office too long, and if power becomes too concentrated, then eventually, power becomes... russia

says it will be a daily five—hour pause and the fighting in syria's enclave of ghoutta from tuesday. also on the programme, india mourns a ballamid also on the programme, india mourns a ball amid new revelations on how she died. we