to itsn "viii? ‘ur ii‘ul‘ei r mi ‘uzr forward to hitting the ground running after their wedding, sitting next to her, herfuture sister—in—law, how is it working as a force? working as family does have its challenges, of course, the fact that everyone is laughing means everyone knows exactly what it's like! but we are stuck together for the rest of our lives... so! lilley this is true, togetherness at its finest! together and seeking to make a difference. nicholas witchell, bbc news. never more important. hello louise. this is london, would you believe, to 20 metres of snow in northumberland and if you are travelling, bear in mind they will be more disruption due to further

snowfall. amber weather warnings are out with one red, very unusual, this means take action across the central belt of scotland. do not go out u nless belt of scotland. do not go out unless your journey belt of scotland. do not go out unless yourjourney is necessary. you need to take heed of this now because frequent snow showers for feeding off the east coast, blizzard like conditions with strong blustery winds and those conditions will continue overnight. we could potentially see another 10—20 centimetres of snow already on top of what we've got so that will just exacerbate the issues. it will be a bitterly cold night, temperatures well below freezing, it could be treacherous first thing in the morning. as we go into tomorrow it looks like we will continue to keep the feet of snow showers across the east for a time, a little bit further south ibiza halberstam in the south—west we could see further snow arriving, more on that in a moment. factor in a strong biting easterly wind and it will feel raw.

you will feel that if you are walking, it will feel bitterly cold tomorrow afternoon. the area of low pressure that will be moving up from iberia and could bring more disruptive snow, this time across south—west england into wales and eventually into northern ireland, there's still a level of uncertainty where this snow is likely to be sitting and there's a question mark as to whether we seek freezing rain which could be just as hazardous behind it into the south—west. these are the areas that will be affected during the day on thursday. then that frontal system will drift steadily north so we will see further snow moving into northern ireland, perhaps into wales, maybe central and southern england, you will need to keep abreast of the forecast, still showers across eastern scotland but a little quieter compared with today. 20 to talk about. look at the warnings on the bbc weather website and i will be here all afternoon with further updates, jane. thank you, louise.

a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. more than 1000 schools are closed, roads are blocked and trains and flights are cancelled as severe weather across the uk causes widespread disruption. that is all from the bbc news at one o'clock team. goodbye from everyone here. on bbc one we good afternoon, i'm ayshah tull. here's your latest sports news. england have won in their second one—day international against new zealand, to level the series 1—1. ben stokes was the man of the match in the six wicket victory. tim hague reports. and inside here. new zealand is a

bit warmer at this time of year and england were definitely the hotter in this match. some brilliant fielding setting the foundations for a victory. ben stokes was at his best. two wickets, two run outs. his team—mates piled in two. the hosts got to a respectable target. 223 never looked enough. eoin morgan scored a half—century, as did ben stokes. perhaps the best all—rounder in the world should all facets of his skill, but as day became night we saw something even more impressive than ben stokes. one—handed catch getting that man around £26,000. what a day! the perfect way to end a england

performance. in every respect. there was a bit of emotion coming off the field. i wanted to make sure i didn't give it all away. there was more emotion than normal because it is where i have been working to. i wa nted is where i have been working to. i wanted to make sure i wasn't letting anyone down. it was good to put on a good partnership with morgan. arsenal manager, arsene wenger says he's "amazed" he's still being grilled about his future at the club. reports this week suggest arsenal are already seeking a replacement for him, following their defeat to manchester city in the league cup final. his players have come in for criticism following that match, including from club legend ian wright, but wenger reckons there's more to it than that. people always see the players don't wa nt people always see the players don't want it enough, that's the common

response that you get. for me, it is not the main reason. my position is my position. honestly, that's the last worry i have at the moment. i'm just amazed that i have always to a nswer just amazed that i have always to answer things that are exactly the same. i'm here for21 years, i turned the whole world down to respect my contracts, so i'm still amazed i still have to answer these kind of questions. british longjumper greg rutherford has pulled out of the world indoor championships, which start in birmingham tomorrow. he's been suffering from a series of injuries and had already withdrawn from april's commonwealth games. rutherford missed last year's world championships with an ankle injury, he also had groin surgery. the 2012 olympic champion says he'll now focus on returning to full fitness in time to defend his european championship title in august. and british cyclists laura and jason kenny

are back competing today at the track world championships in the netherlands. laura will be on the track shortly in a qualifier. the kennys have taken their six month old baby albie with them. instead of staying in the team hotel, they've rented a city apartment, along with the grandparents who'll be helping out with childcare. laura and jason are two of seven olympic champions in the british team. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. and how the weather is affecting sport — tonight's fixtures in the scottish premiership have all been postponed. we'll have more for you in the next hour. let's talk more about our main

political story. let's get more on the eu's publication of its draft legal document setting out the terms of the uk‘s withdrawal. it addresses the question of the irish border, proposing a "common regulatory area without internal borders" — if other solutions cannot be found to avoid a hard border. the eu's chief negotiator, michael barnier, described the idea as a back stop option while it awaited detailed ideas from the british government. the island of ireland will be protected and a hard border will be avoided. a few words on ireland. our text contains the legal commitments necessary for the protection of the rights of individuals, as well as for the protection of the common travel area. these points have already been agreed between the eu

and the uk. the withdrawal agreement must also contain a solution to avoid a hard border and protect the good friday agreement in all its dimensions. this is a joint commitment between the eu and uk. in paragraph a0 nine, three options for tackling the problem are listed. first, to deal with this through the agreement of the future relationship if possible. obviously, this solution will not be in place at the moment of the withdrawal. second, the uk is committed to proposing specific solutions to addressing the unique circumstances on the island of ireland. we look forward to receiving these proposals. third, to maintain full alignment with those

rules of the internal market and the customs union which now or in the future support north — south cooperation, the whole island economy and the protection of the good friday agreement. this is the backstop solution that we have to do that in the withdrawal agreement. it is the only way to guarantee that oui’ is the only way to guarantee that our joint is the only way to guarantee that ourjoint commitments will be upheld in all circumstances as the joint report requires. ladies and gentlemen, we have applied imagination and creativity to find a specific solution to the unique challenge that brexit posies for the protection of the good friday agreement. two issues are key to avoid border checks. first, full alignment with you long on goods,

vetting very and plant rules. second, northern ireland has to be covered by the union customs cold. our approach is focused on those areas where it is needed to avoid border checks. daily life around the border checks. daily life around the border should continue as today. as i have said before, already today, northern ireland has rules in plays that are different from the rest of the uk. michel barnier in brussels. continuing analysis of that throughout the day on bbc news. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc news: the cold weather intensifies causing widespread disruption. a red warning is issued for scotland — the highest level of alert. theresa may rejects eu proposals in a draft legal treaty suggesting

a "common regulatory area" on the island of ireland if solutions cannot be found for the post—brexit border. more than 5,000 jobs are at risk, as both toy r us and maplin go into administration. in the business news: toys r us has gone into administration, putting 3,000 uk jobs at risk. toys r us managed to stave off administration in december, when it struck an agreement with the pension protection fund to inject £9.8 million into its retirement scheme over three years. and one of the uk's biggest electronics retailers has collapsed into administration after talks with potential buyers failed to secure a sale. maplin, which has more than 200 stores and 2,500 staff, will continue to trade through the process. estate agent chain foxtons has

reported a slump in profits as it warns of a london housing market near historic lows. it says profits fell 65% for the year to december warning that the slowdown had a significant impact on its overall performance. good afternoon. welcome to the business news. it has been a dark morning for uk retail — both toys r us and maplin have said they're filing for administration putting thousands ofjobs at risk. administrators will begin an an orderly wind—down of toys r us following the failure to find a buyer. they said that all 105 toys r us stores will remain open until further notice but stock will be sold off. they've also urged customers to use any outstanding vouchers or gift cards as soon as possible. joining us now is simon french, chief economist at panmure gordon. thank you forjoining us. toys r us, it's interesting, lots of people in their position would blame the likes

of the big boys like amazon, but really it has failed to adapt to a new environment and retail? there is quite a complex story here. part of it is the rise in online retailing and bricks and mortar retailers are coming under pressure. but a big pa rt coming under pressure. but a big part of the story today is the ability of some retailers to pass on some increase to their cost base, and most of that is coming through the weakness in the pound but also some increase in workers cost and business rates. consumers are feeling cautious. a combination of structural change but also some quite specific things going on in uk retailing right now. toys r us are not unique business model. maplin had bad news today, but they are different market. either bricks and mortar retailers all vulnerable just

now? you have to adapt or die on the high street, that's the brutal truth. for many people, this represents an acknowledgement some businesses have not been able to adapt, haven't had products able to pass on price reductions to consumers. i expect these to be the first of a number of retailers who will fall by the wayside. the challenge for government and retailers is to be able to navigate that difficult retailing environment and still be successful and offer the ken of services people want to go out and buy. electronic is was probably one of the first products to move online. you could order them about a decade ago on amazon. today, maplin are looking for a buyer. it is quite a niche area and there is massive competition elsewhere. your

right to highlight the niche element of electronics and the ability for maplin to differentiate themselves perhaps towards the lower end of the chain and that might be attractive to some buyers. of the key is with the product offering, to make sure it keeps pace with what consumer demand is. one of the things we've seen with electronic and technology is that demand changes very quickly. if you have a long lead in time in terms of the stock you are offering to consumers, you can quickly be overta ken to consumers, you can quickly be ove rta ke n by to consumers, you can quickly be overtaken by consumer preferences are going to. thank you. more on that throughout the afternoon. itv has reported a 5% fall in profits after a tough year for advertising. the studio network is performing well, however. the new boss says she

is aiming fora well, however. the new boss says she is aiming for a strategic response from the business. she has to worry about the ingress of tech giants into the tv space. she should be worried about online, worried about itv hub continually underperforming. also there is the brick box service which nobody knows anything about. viewing figures are up. up 15% amongst younger people. they have the world cup, with a reasonable time zone. this is the year for them to cash in on love island. let's check on the markets.

that's all the business news. some news which has come through in the last few minutes. it is coming from russia, specifically from the russian olympic committee, saying its olympic membership has been fully restored following its suspension from pyeongchang. it was banned from the winter olympics by the ioc because of state—sponsored doping. russia are now saying that has been fully restored before the closing ceremony the ioc had said

the ban would be listed as long as there were no more anti—doping violations. it appears their rights have been fully restored. we are waiting for a response from the ioc. clearly more to come on that. let's get more now on prime minister's questions. our assistant political editor, norman smith, was following proceedings and joins me now from westminster. something of a first today. i think it was the first time jeremy corbyn two weeks running has asked about brexit. that probably tells you how far brexit is dominating all our lives in s w one. we got proposals from the european commission on the northern ireland border with theresa may pretty much slamming the door shut over their proposals. we continue to stand behind all the

commitments we made in december and my negotiating team will work with the commission. the draft text if implemented would undermine the uk internal market by creating a customs border down the irish sea. no uk prime minister could ever agree to it. i will be making it crystal clear to president yunker and others we will never do so. we are committed to ensuring we see no ha rd are committed to ensuring we see no hard border between northern ireland and ireland, but the december text also made clear they should continue to be trade between northern ireland and the rest of the uk as there is today. boris johnson created another who have. there was a leak of a mammal to cabinet ministers in which he appeared to countenance the idea

ofa he appeared to countenance the idea of a hard border. jeremy corbyn pressed theresa may on whether the government was secretly considering that option. three months ago, the foreign secretary told the house regarding northern ireland, there can be no hard border, that would be unthinkable. that's what he said. yet ina unthinkable. that's what he said. yet in a leaked letter to the prime minister he wrote, even if a hard border is reintroduced, we would expect to see 95% plus of goods pass. he is shouting at the moment. he is obviously mixing up the border with the border between camden and islington. samuelwilson, let's start with that very firm rebuff from theresa may to the eu package. i'm presuming you guys are saying

yes, result. i would i'm presuming you guys are saying yes, result. iwould have i'm presuming you guys are saying yes, result. i would have expected her to say so. and eu proposal would have separated northern ireland from the rest of the uk, and no conservative prime minister was going to ever accept the break—up of the uk. and indeed had she accepted that, there would have been pressure from the scottish nationalists for the same treatment for scotland, or it would have led to the united kingdom being kept in the customs union and the single market in its entirety. it wasn't what the agreement was in december. it seems the eu within two months have simply torn that up and said they are only interested in one part of it. what was she talking about when she spoke of full alignment between northern ireland and the republic of ireland? alignment can take a number of

forms. a conscious decision by the parliament here could decide to mirror the rules of elsewhere, or we could simply say we are going our different ways. it is pretty much impossible for any british prime minister to do anything to threaten the territorial integrity of the uk. i'm fearful that is the ritchie is going down. i don't think she understands the logic of her own she came back trumpeting in december the fa ct came back trumpeting in december the fact they had come to an agreement in december. this text is only meant to bea in december. this text is only meant to be a version of what the agreed in december. so it's quite clear nothing has been agreed. my anxiety is we will get all the way down the

line is there is still a wish for no border within the island of ireland and no border in the irish sea. the end result is to stay in the customs union. this sort of opens up. the eu are playing a game here. it is about what we need to do to find some satisfactory customs union in whatever form that might take. the foreign secretary believes the eu is trying to keep the uk in the customs union. he thinks this is a ruse to scupper brexit. i represent a remain constituency, so it is lovely to be wanted, to be honest. i still don't believe we will end up with a customs union. a lot of science

organisations in my constituency would have wanted us to stay. i think we might start to find a middle ground around compromise. i signed the amendment for a customs union not the customs union. might you side withjeremy corbyn? union not the customs union. might you side with jeremy corbyn?m union not the customs union. might you side with jeremy corbyn? it is ouramendment. it is you side with jeremy corbyn? it is our amendment. it is a discussion. i'm pleased we have had meetings with the chief whip. we will talk to the prime minister about it. the prime minister has to be in listening mode because the referendum is still divisive. we need to compromise for both sides of the argument. theresa may has been

saying as well as liam fox, that we have so many opportunities to do deals with english—speaking countries and the commonwealth. if you add up all our trade with all of the commonwealth, it doesn't add up to our trade with spain, france and germany. my anxiety is that theresa may keeps on using this language. it's like she's gone seven rounds with the english language and it's come out bloodied. she uses all these phrases that simply don't mean anything. suddenly someone produces anything. suddenly someone produces a legal text, like the eu has, anything. suddenly someone produces a legaltext, like the eu has, and she says it is not what she meant. the comic you've made there doesn't add up either. the assumption behind it is ever not in the customs union we do not do any trade with the rest of the eu. that's what you said. you said if you take the trade we have with commonwealth countries it

doesn't add up to the trade we do with spain, germany and france. doesn't add up to the trade we do with spain, germany and francem you have tariffs, that would affect the trade. we trade with many countries where we don't have free trade arrangements. there is an arrangement with the eu. we have no free trade with america. a stop you because i am becoming a bystander. let's cross over to the weather. we have a red weather warning which has been issued by the met office from the central belt of scotland.

take action. do not go out or travel u nless take action. do not go out or travel u nless necessary. take action. do not go out or travel unless necessary. relentless snow showers are likely to feed in across the east coast through the night. we could see 10—20 centimetres falling on what we have already got. looking down towards the south—west, deep area of low pressure moves over south—west england and bring the potential for more disruptive snow. it will take its time in arriving during the morning of thursday, perhaps brushing with the south coast eventually into south—west england and south wales. sam wood between the two, brighter, breezy and feeling bitterly cold at there. take care. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2:00. the met office issues a red warning for extreme weather in scotland — people are being advised not to travel in the worst affected areas.

heavy snow threatens to leave some villages cut off. more than 2,000 schools are closed, trains and planes are cancelled across the uk as police warn drivers to think twice before taking to the roads. a stand—off on the issue of the irish border, as the eu publishes a legal draft of its brexit withdrawal agreement. the withdrawal agreement must also contain a solution to avoid a hard border, and to protect the good friday agreement in all its dimensions. no uk prime minister could ever agree to it, and i will be making that absolutely clear.