this is bbc news. the headlines at 11. a red weather alert across parts of central scotland as snow and freezing conditions cause travel misery. glasgow airport handed out foil blankets as its flights are grounded until lunchtime tomorrow. in southern england, scores of tomorrow's rail services are already cancelled. the prime minister rejects the eu's proposals on northern ireland border, saying it would threaten the uk's ‘constitutional integrity‘. police investigating a fatal explosion in leicester on sunday tonight arrest three men on suspicion of manslaughter. and coming up in 15 minutes on newsnight with kirsty... tonight, an extraordinary film about next month's russian presidential election. we follow the woman taking on vladamir putin. is she all that she appears to be or could she be a fake candidate? good evening.

there are severe weather warnings in place tonight for almost all of the uk as snow continues to fall and sub zero temperatures intensify. across large parts of scotland, red alert is in place, which means lives could be at risk. temperatures have been well below zero in many places for much of the day. farnborough in hampshire was the coldest at —11.7 celsius. snow blanketed eastern england and scotland with cumbria seeing more than a foot of snow. thousands of schools have been closed, and dozens of railway stations will be closed tomorrow. lorna gordon reports. at the tail end of winter, the highest alert for snow. the driving treacherous, the disruption widespread. heading out in these conditions not advised.

this is the first time scotland has had a red weather warning of this kind. in force for a large swathe of the country's most heavily populated areas. frequent showers, drifting snow and the extremely low temperatures means some rural communities could become cut off. is it ok to come in? hello, marjorie. in the village of bishopton, on the outskirts of glasgow, the local minister has been looking in on the elderly and formidable. ——on the elderly and vulnerable. in this kind of weather, it's good for everyone to look out for their neighbours? it is indeed, that is right, and even the smallest gesture can be a help. checking in on everyone and just checking to see they are safe is important. we wouldn't be advocating people going out in this kind of weather. stay warm, stay safe, and let us come to you. as the red warning to call hold, the

busy streets were empty. someone even busy streets were empty. someone eve n we nt busy streets were empty. someone even went to ski. it is pretty unusual in scotland, we do have some severe weather but snow on the scale whilst not unprecedented is unusual. we would have to go back a number of years to see an event like this. jackknifed lorries mentored that even the gritters and snowplows had trouble. the irate ground to a halt. trevor stuck. tonight drivers a stock. it was white. the sky cleared and it looked optimistic in the next thing it went black and just as the heavy snow. the blizzard conditions lead to problems at the airports, too. most flights from glasgow warriors cancelled. the red cross bringing in temporary bedding for hundreds of passengers stranded overnight. one sign perhaps of just passengers stranded overnight. one sign perhaps ofjust how extreme this weather has been, dear coming

down from the hills in pressure in search of shelter or food. more than 1600 schools across scotland have been closed for the day, many will remain closed and tomorrow, too. this weather has been exceptional and it is not over yet. lorna gordon, bbc news. three men have been arrested in connection with the explosion in leicester on sunday, in which five people died. the men who've been arrested are all in their thirties and are being questioned on suspicion of manslaughter. our correspondent andy moore gave me this update earlier this evening. certainly what the mayor of lester said. he said but the most possible explanation was the explosion. we have a brief press release that three people are arrested for manslaughter. they were arrested between five and six this evening. one man from east anglia, the second from the northwest and the third is

from the northwest and the third is from the northwest and the third is from the east midlands. they say they will be getting any more details about the men at this stage, but they go on to stress, once again, there remains no evidence the explosion was in anyway way terrorist are related. police don't say white caused the blast. we don't know. telling you a bit more about the explosion comes see the pictures there. absolutely, seven o'clock on a sunday evening to become a big explosion followed by very fierce fire. 2—story flats was destroyed above a polish supermarket. a family of three were victims, we know now. the mother was 46 and her two sons we re the mother was 46 and her two sons were 17 and 18. they lived in the flat above the shop. another victim was an 18—year—old. she was shane's girlfriend and was in the flats at the time. the fifth of victim was a

22—year—old. she was working in the supermarket. last we heard, four people were taken to hospital and they were described as walking in wounded. they been released, but we understand one person is so critically ill in hospital. the former prime minister, sirjohn major has called on theresa may to offer mps a free vote on the final brexit deal, with the option of putting it to the public in a second referendum. sirjohn, who campaigned to remain in the eu, criticised the uk's approach to brexit, and said many of its red lines are unrealistic. he made the comments in a speech in london. nobody can truly know what the will of the people may then be. so let's parliament decide or put the issue back to the people. i don't enjoy being out of step with so many of my party. and i take no pleasure at all in speaking out as i have today. but

it is as necessary to speak truth to the people as it is to speak truth to power. however his comments were dismissed by leading brexiteers, including conservative backbencher jacob rees mogg, who said it was ‘riddled with errors‘. he would expect thejohn major, former prime minister, to make a statesman—like speech, free of propaganda and a cheap comments. in fa ct, propaganda and a cheap comments. in fact, it is all cheap comments and propaganda. this is it a statesman—like speech. this is one of somebody grabbing around in the weeds for weak arguments and is a very poor speech in that regard. you can go through it, and indeed i had, and if it‘s in, i would happily construed paragraph by paragraph to show quite how weak and contentious it is. meanwhile in brussels, the european commission published its first draft of the official treaty for brexit, with an option for keeping northern ireland in a customs union while the rest of the uk leaves. theresa may says that could never be agreed to. here‘s our europe editor katya adler.

in the historic process in which the uk leaves the eu, this is a big moment. the first legal draft of the uk‘s exit treaty. so how is it possible, you might ask, to have a draft withdrawal agreement already when brexit negotiations are still ongoing? well, this 120 page document is the european commission‘s understanding of what has been agreed to date with the uk, and of what it still wants to be agreed. so in here we see the divorce issues that were discussed but not finalised before christmas. the rights of eu citizens in the uk and uk citizens in after brexit and the brexit bill and the irish border. also in here the transition agreement, but no details of a future eu—uk trade deal because those talks haven‘t even started yet. the document‘s paragraphs

on northern ireland are particularly controversial. the eu‘s chief brexit negotiator came out today to defend them. we have applied imagination and creativity to find a specific solution to the unique challenge that brexit poses for the protection of the good friday agreement. mr barnier said three options had been agreed with the uk to avoid the reintroduction of a hard border between the northern ireland and the irish republic, but he said the uk hadn‘t yet come forward with details so his back stop solution involves northern ireland remaining in a customs agreement with the eu and in parts of the single market. you must also be aware of the potentially explosive effect in the uk of this northern ireland protocol. is this perhaps intentional on your part? translation: i'm not trying

to provoke or create shockwaves. i want these negotiations to be a success. let me remind you that it was the uk‘s decision to leave. as i said from the beginning, nobody should underestimate the consequences of this action. but the prime minister was having none of it. the draft legal text the commission have published would if implemented would undermine the uk common market and threaten constitutional intregrity of the uk by creating a customs and regulatory border down the irish sea. and no uk prime minister could ever agree to it. the prime minister and the eu do agree a hard border between northern ireland and the irish republic must be avoided. but the prime minister‘s negotiating position is complicated by her government‘s reliance for parliamentary support on northern ireland‘s democratic unionist party. we didn‘t leave the eu to oversee the break—up of the united kingdom. it would be catastrophic economically, never mind politically

from northern ireland to be cut off from its biggest market. this is not where the story ends. this document is a first draft to be amended by eu member states then negotiated with the government. which has plenty to say about it. the japanese car manufacturer toyota has announced plans to build the latest version of its auris model at its plant in derbyshire. most of the engines for it will also be built in britain, at the company‘s factory in deeside. the government says the plan will help to safeguard 3,000 jobs. one of president trump‘s longest—serving advisers, his communications director, hope hicks, has announced that she will resign. her decision to step down was confirmed by the white house but it‘s not clear when she‘ll leave. miss hicks, who‘s 29, is reported to have said she had achieved everything she could in the role. on tuesday, she was questioned for more than eight hours in the us house of representatives investigating alleged russian interference in the us election, and is reported to have admitted

telling what she described as white lies on behalf of mr trump. that‘s the summary — just a reminder — wherever you are in the uk, travel is going to be difficult tomorrow. almost every train operator will be affected again by the conditions with some rail lines completely shut again. airports across the uk are warning of more delays and cancellations. and motorists are being advised not to make any unnecessaryjourneys. if you don‘t have to make a trip, please don‘t. it is very icy other. all the latest weather on the bbc website. that‘s a summary of the news, newsday is coming up at midnight — now on bbc news it‘s time for newsnight with kirsty wark. thought you‘d settle in for a nice warm, cosy watch with newsnight this evening? well, we‘re reporting on... democracy in russia... brexit! and this... tonight, gabriel gatehouse follows the russian presidential race

with opposition candidate ksenia sobchak. it‘s a fake election. it's a fake election? yes, i‘m always telling that. but is everything quite as it seems? could it be that ksenia sobchak is doing the kremlin‘s bidding? also tonight, john major today called for a free vote in parliament on brexit, with the possibility of a second referendum. it‘s fair to say brexiteers are not impressed. i think generally a good idea for previous prime ministers, whatever their views on either side of this argument or any argument... normally, if you haven‘t got anything positive to say, probably best to keep quiet. and did we used to be better at dealing with this? good evening.

from syria, to cyber warfare, to the american presidency, to energy supply — if you think the russian presidential election doesn‘t have an impact on our lives, think again. tonight, an extraordinary film ahead of next month‘s vote. tomorrow, vladimir putin delivers his annual address to the russian parliament and other members of the russian political elite. the speech is likely to contain a slew of spending promises, but even if he feels the need to go a—wooing, there‘s little doubt that he‘ll be the man delivering them after the election. the first round is in less than three weeks, and without some seismic upset, putin will win his second consecutive term, and fourth term overall. in a race where at least one contender, opposition leader alexei navalny, has been barred from participating, why would anyone risk

all to challenge vladimir putin? ksenia sobchak is a former russian socialite turned opposition journalist. she‘s now running for the russian presidency. but many opposition supporters say she‘s a fake candidate, running a no—hope race to boost the kremlin‘s democratic credentials. she herself admits she has no chance of winning. but take a deeper look, and her candidacy in fact reveals much about contemporary russia. gabriel gatehouse joined ksenia sobchak on the campaign trail and found a twisted tale of intrigue, power struggles and family loyalties, in a country where nothing is as simple as it first appears.