hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm ben brown. today at 2:00: the prime minister updates mps this afternoon after the brexit talks stall again — over the issue of the irish border. there are one or two very difficult outstanding issues, but i think we can get there, whether we do this week or not who knows? the duchess of sussex is expecting a baby and is due to give birth next spring. sit down protests in lancashire as fracking for shale gas begins again for the first time in seven years. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with olly foster. we are gearing up for another busy night in the nation's league but that has been trouble in spain involving england supporters with the fa involving england supporters with the f a condemning all their unacceptable behaviour. and susan powell have the weather. big

contrast across the uk at the moment, plenty of sunshine in the north, murky to the south and we will take a look at the stormy weather that has been affecting europe over the last couple of days. thanks, also coming up: they're campaigning to be recognised as an independent nation at the olympics. hello everyone — this is afternoon live, i'm ben brown. theresa may will address mps this afternoon after the brexit negotiations stalled again over the issue of the irish border — only two days before an eu summit billed by brussels as "the moment of truth". hopes of a breakthrough were raised yesterday when the brexit secretary made an unscheduled trip to brussels. but talks faltered over the need for a back—up plan, known as the backstop, to avoid the reinstatement

of the irish border if a future trade deal isn't agreed. here's our political correspondent, leila nathoo. half full, theresa may knows she needs fuel for the coming days... looks like they'll be making quite a few cups of tea. to find some way through the brexit deadlock. negotiations have ground to a halt. ministers know the very prospect of a deal has now been thrown into doubt. this is obviously a difficult period. it was always going to be a moment like this, but we should remember a huge amount of progress has been made. there are one or two very difficult outstanding issues. but i think we can get there. whether we do this week or not, who knows rush to mark but i know everyone is trying incredibly hard. a whirlwind trip to brussels for the brexit secretary, dominic raab, yesterday. he was on his way back afterjust an hour, finding no common ground with the eu over a back—up plan

for the irish border. nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that we're not going to see physical border infrastructure re—emerging on the island of ireland. so those commitments have been made in writing by the british government and what we are saying is, we want no more and no less than the follow—through of those commitments. what to do if no future trade deal emerges that can keep checks away from this border has long been a sticking point. and northern ireland's dup, the party propping up theresa may's government, are clear they won't tolerate eu proposals that exclude other parts of the uk. this is all designed because the eu wanted to find a way of continuing to tie the united kingdom to its single market and customs arrangements, in other words, to thwart brexit. those concerns are felt across the conservative backbenches and at the highest levels of government. theresa may's brexit strategy hangs in the balance,

as unpopular here in westminster, as it is in brussels. morning. there's talk of cabinet walk—outs. reporter: are you going to resign over the prime minister's brexit plan? no, everyone is getting on with theirjobs, we are supporting the prime minister to get the best deal for the country. and opposition parties are calling for a change of course. a future political declaration, but the next bit about which we will all fall out with the eu, for the same reason as he always fall out and that's because the government is deeply divided. this is politics around the cabinet table that holding the country back. if the uk is determined to leave the eu, it should, in my view, remain in the customs union and single market. that, in my view, is the least damaging alternative option for the uk as a whole, as well as the least damaging option for scotland. there are obstacles in all directions. she knows navigating this critical week, under pressure from all sides,

would be easy. won't be easy. leila nathoo, bbc news, westminster. our chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster. we willjoin vicky in a moment but i wa nt to we willjoin vicky in a moment but i want to bring some news from germany. we are hearing from jenny hill that two explosives have been reported that cologne railway station. police confirming special forces have stormed the site and we are hearing police in cologne have close parts of the railway station after an armed man took a woman hostage in a pharmacy. police have appealed to people not to post any pictures at all of that operation on social media saying, if they do they will be helping the hostage taker. they have not confirmed reports of shots being fired and police negotiators were at the scene. not clear if there is a relationship to terrorism with this incident but the latest we are hearing is two explosions have been heard at

cologne railway station. so we will bring you more on that as it comes in from jenny hill in germany. let's go back to the brexit talks and the fa ct go back to the brexit talks and the fact that theresa may is going to be speaking to mps to update them on what happened, or what didn't happen with the negotiations over the weekend. vicky young is at westminster. we seem to be in a moment ‘s pause, it is fair to say, on those talks. nothing scheduled before the eu summit on wednesday. that had been a there would be a deal in the offing for that summit, but it looks unlikely now. some suggesting because there is no summit scheduled for november, emmanuel macron, the french president made it clear, if there was no progress at this one, there wouldn't be a need for an emergency summit in november. so some speculating this could run to december. i am joined speculating this could run to december. iam joined by

speculating this could run to december. i am joined by the leader of the liberal democrats, said vince cable. what do you want the prime minister to say today? the public needs clarity, we are getting leaks and briefing and different people in the cabinet saying different things. just to understand if there is a problem, what the problem actually is. i suspect that actually the negotiating problems with the european union are not that profound. the problem is with the conservative party in london. they are badly split and the prime minister cannot get an agreement between the various factions. some are suggesting the eu is being unreasonable by saying to the uk, northern ireland will be treated differently. in effect, trying to carve northern ireland out of the united kingdom and no leader would accept such a proposition. they have known from the beginning that this is not acceptable to the british parliament. they are not advocating that, i would parliament. they are not advocating that, iwould not parliament. they are not advocating that, i would not advocate that. there is no reason the uk should be

dividing in that way. what the eu are insisting on, is there shouldn't be friction at the border in ireland. that is a commitment we in britain had written into the good friday agreement. the british government says it has technology will invent technology to deal with this problem. i think it can be demonstrated to work and be foolproof, there shouldn't be a difficulty. i certainly wouldn't advocate splitting the united kingdom. that is not what the negotiations are about. do you think are no deal scenario is more likely? i have never felt the no deal scenario was as likely as the government was pretending. i think there is an element of trying to frighten the children, talking about nuclear weapons, it is a terrible outcome and some people will buckle underand outcome and some people will buckle under and accept whatever bad deal is coming. what seems to be coming down the track is an unsatisfactory

arrangement in which the british public are asked to pay up 40 to £50 billion in return, it's not at all clear what we are getting. a trade agreement is worse than what the arrangement rehab with the european union. it is potentially very messy and one solution out of this mess is to go back to the public and let's give them theresa may's deal and if they like it, and if not, give them they like it, and if not, give them the option of remaining in the european union. theresa may will be on herfeet in european union. theresa may will be on her feet in the european union. theresa may will be on herfeet in the house european union. theresa may will be on her feet in the house of commons at 3:30pm and it will be interesting to see the reaction from many hand side and the dup. vicky young, thank you very much indeed. much more on the brexit story in a moment, but an update of what is happening in cologne in germany. please had closed off pa rt cologne in germany. please had closed off part of the main railway station as an armed man took a woman hostage in a pharmacy. then there

we re hostage in a pharmacy. then there were explosions heard, two explosions heard at cologne railway station. we have been heard daily—macro hearing that the hostage—takers has daily—macro hearing that the hostage—ta kers has been daily—macro hearing that the hostage—takers has been taken under control and no longer poses a risk. it appears to have been an armed man who took a woman hostage in a pharmacy at cologne railway station. he is now under control and no longer any sort of risk or danger. there were a couple of explosions. we know police negotiators had been at the scene. no indications yet of what was the motivation for this man taking a woman hostage, whether it was some sort of domestic dispute whether it was related to terrorism in any way. but the incident does now seem to be over. lots of police at cologne railway station. a lot of them heavily armed. there were reports of a couple of explosions,

whether they were stunned grenades of some kind, we do not know yet. we will bring you more as it comes in. about incident at cologne railway station does now appear to be over. back to the brexit tolls and the fa ct back to the brexit tolls and the fact that they stalled over the weekend. let's go to luxembourg now where we can speak to our europe reporter, gavin lee, who has the latest on the foreign ministers meeting. we heard from jeremy hunt saying, it's not all over, they are still hoping that talks can succeed? yes, he told me that he was disappointed. he acknowledged that much, but he was very much optimistic, saying we will get a deal but we don't know when it will be. if you think about the last ten days, there have been intensive talks. notjust the uk but

all around europe, there has been a ripple of expectation among other foreign leaders. as i came in and spoke to them, we have the slovakian, the spanish and the croatian foreign minister is all saying they thought there would be a deal. they were watching the tv reports of dominic ryan arriving in brussels, thinking it could be a key moment that sets up the summit on wednesday and there is a deal. it wasn't to be. the word that kept coming up today when i was talking to foreign ministers, they were frustrated and it is disappointing, but they can still breathe and space to get some kind of deal. simon covertly, the irish foreign minister making it clear, you felt that whilst he was disappointed, he felt the talks are slightly off the rails, they have disengaged in terms of the civil servant speaking to each other in brussels and the uk. that won't happen until wednesday. the feeling at the moment was epitomised by the austrian foreign

minister, saying they hope they can give it something that almost two yea rs of give it something that almost two years of talks, just haven't been able to get to the crooks, which is the northern irish border. a little bit of the silver lining is the spanish foreign minister, i asked him on the issue of gibraltar and how close they were on that. he said gibraltar is not a rock of concern any more for brexit. he estimated there was 15 and 10% of brexit issues to still sort. but it doesn't matter when it comes to be a matter of the irish future for northern ireland, it still has to be resolved. thank you very much, gavin. just to say theresa may is expecting to speak to mps on the latest brexit talks at 3:30pm in the house of, and we will bring that to you live here on bbc news. in the meantime... kensington palace has announced that the duchess

of sussex is pregnant. in a statement, it said meghan was expecting her first child in spring next year and that she and prince harry were "delighted to share the happy news with the public". the announcement was made shortly after the duke and duchess of sussex arrived in australia on their first royal tour as a married couple. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. sidnei, this morning. the arrival of the duke and duchess of sussex at the duke and duchess of sussex at the start of their 16 day visit to australia, new zealand, fiji and tonga. news of the pregnancy hadn't been announced so were those two ring binders are subconscious effort to conceal their news for a little longer? and then there was the choice of a long coat for the wedding on friday. was she trying to hide something or was it a sensible choice on a windy day? whatever the truth, shortly after 8:30am london time, kensington palace issued a

short statement saying the duke and duchess of sussex were expecting a baby which is due next spring. five months after their wedding at st george ‘s title in winter, a child which will be seventh in line to the throne, is on its way. it is the fulfilment of a wish by them both to start a family. harry is known to have a strong rapport with children. meghan also. modern, wonderful pa rents. meghan also. modern, wonderful parents. prince harry always brings it to life if there are children there. maybe in another life he was a natural blue peter presenter. briefly then for everyone, something to agree with. it is wonderful news, very happy for them. and for harry and meghan, they face a hectic i6 days on tour with a mass of baby gives no doubt and the prospect of parenthood. the energy firm, cuadrilla is hoping to begin fracking for shale gas in lancashire later today.

the work involves pumping liquid underground at high pressure to fracture rocks and release natural gas. it'll be the first time the process has been tried since it was linked to two small earthquakes near blackpool seven years ago. richard lister reports. this drilling rig in rural lancashire is now the front line for fracking in the uk. after years of debate, delays and demonstrations, work at the cuadrilla plans has restarted but the protesters haven't stopped. they have blocked the road next to the site this morning, the atmosphere was subdued. those here believe fracking is a danger to those living nearby and for the wider environment. i feel quite angry that they are forcing this on us. there is no social license, we wa nt us. there is no social license, we want them to go away. we don't need

it. it is harmful to the climate, harmful to health and the land. it is pointless. fracking involves drilling vertically and then horizontally before pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into shale rock, which has gas trapped inside it. when the rock fractures, the gas is released and brought to the surface. it is a technique perfected in the united states and now accounts for two thirds of us gas production. energy prices have fallen as a result, but is more reliance on fossil fuels prices have fallen as a result, but is more reliance on fossilfuels in any one's long—term interest. is more reliance on fossilfuels in any one's long-term interest. the growth in renewable has been welcomed but confined to the electricity sector and we still use pretty much gas for all of our heating. so if people want to heat their homes and cook their food, we will need it for many decades to come. cuadrilla says fracking could create thousands ofjobs, notjust here but in sites around the country

and it insists the environmental risk, particularly from earthquakes, is extremely small. police cut two protesters free from the tyres they had cemented themselves into outside the site today. this battle against fracking isn't over. the government is launch what it calls green gb week, an initiative to encourage companies to turn away from coal, oil and gas to protect the climate. it's also asked the independent advisory body, the committee an initiative to encourage companies to turn away from coal, oil and gas to protect the climate. it's also asked the independent advisory body, the committee on climate change, for guidance on how to eliminate the country's emissions of greenhouse gases completely. but as we've heard earlier, fracking to produce shale gas has today restarted in lancashire. so how does that square with today's launch? our environment analyst, roger harrabin, reports. coal burning is climate and minimi

number one so britain has become a global leader in tackling climate change by phasing out coalfor global leader in tackling climate change by phasing out coal for power generation. scientists say a huge expansion in wind and solar power is needed to stabilise the climate. we must stop burning coal, they said last week. i will be asking formally, for advice on how we get to the zero target by 2050 and part of that advice is to help me understand the costs that might be associated with it. then i can start to think about what does the government need to do, what does the private sector need to do and how can we collaborate around the world to try and drop the costs? will the uk really reduce emissions to zero scientists wants? one low—cost option is planting trees to soak up the c02 option is planting trees to soak up the co2 we produce, but the government is missing its target for new woodlands. sales of electric

ca rs are new woodlands. sales of electric cars are lagging as well and ministers make that worse by cutting subsidies only last week. what's more, the government is expanding heathrow. it's promoting fracking, as we heard. it is freezing fuel duty, it has scrapped solar subsidies and it has cancelled zero carbon homes. campaigners wonder if ministers are serious about ending the use of fossil fuels. president trump has said he accepts that the global climate is changing, but he doesn't know if it is man—made. in an interview on american television, he went on to say that scientists' views couldn't be relied upon because they had a political agenda. i think something is happening, something is changing and it will change back again. i don't think it isa change back again. i don't think it is a hoax, there is probably a difference, but i don't think it is

man—made. i don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars, i don't want to lose millions and millions ofjobs. i don't want to be put at a disadvantage. i'm joined now by lord deben — chairman of the committee on climate change. what president trump has just been saying, his views on climate change have been pretty controversial down the years. he is now saying he doesn't think it is a hoax, but the scientists who talk about climate change are politically motivated. he doesn't want the united states to spend trillions of dollars sorting out climate change and he doesn't wa nt out climate change and he doesn't want it to cost millions ofjobs, what are your thoughts?“ want it to cost millions ofjobs, what are your thoughts? if he doesn't spend any money, he will be losing thejobs doesn't spend any money, he will be losing the jobs because the jobs are coming to us who are cleaning up the atmosphere. that is what people want. he will destroy american industry, as the american

industrialists themselves, or the big companies are already moving about climate change. he is wrong about climate change. he is wrong about thejobs, about climate change. he is wrong about the jobs, wrong about the money and wrong about the science. he is making an insulting comment. all of the world's climate change scientists are in it for some reason. i know their politics are different from one scale to the other. they know what the truth is. there is no argument about the science any longer, the issue is how we move fast enough to stop the climate changing so much, but it would damage not only our children's lives, but our own. you have the report from international scientists warning global temperatures are rising faster than they had anticipated? rising faster than they had anticipated ? your rising faster than they had anticipated? your job is rising faster than they had anticipated? yourjob is to advise the government on how to stop that, so how do they stop that? are they on course? they are not on course,

but they have done a great deal than many thought they were. we have a fourth and fifth carbon budget which lays down what they have to do and they are not on course for that. we have pointed out what they have to do, we have put a whole programme out for them. they have just responded to that and i haven't had chance to read it. but the government has asked us to chart the course in a sense, of what we would have to do to get down below a rise of2 have to do to get down below a rise of 2 degrees. a 2 degrees rise in our temperatures over the world would be very bad. but that is what we have been aiming for. the paris agreement, all the countries of the world joined together saying we have to push it down below that and this government has now asked us to chart how we would do that. it wants to do the right thing. there is a political consensus for this right

across the party floor, which is very important. i believe it will do the right thing, but myjob is to go on pushing them and make sure they do. if britain is to do its bit, as one of many countries obviously, it is thejob of one of many countries obviously, it is the job of government but also companies and individuals? absolutely, companies have got to do their part and many of them are. companies like bt and even some of the oil companies are really pushing it. but individuals have to do it, there are lots of things he can do to live a more sustainable life and contribute to that. fracking has begun again in lancashire, hugely controversial, as you know. lots of process outside that site where the fracking has resumed. is that helping the environment or damaging the environment? we have made it clear you can only perform fracking if you have tough environmental restrictions. we are going to need

gas for quite some time and we hope we can take the carbon out of it and we can take the carbon out of it and we can take the carbon out of it and we can use it for longer. it is ridiculous not to produce the gas here with very tough environmental restrictions and instead, import it from somewhere else where you have no control over the environmental restrictions. i just wish those campaigners would campaign for a lot of other things that we do need to do, rather than getting onto this particular bandwagon. thank you for coming in, thank you for your time. turkish officials investigating the disappearance of the saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi, are due to search saudi arabia's consulate in istanbul later this afternoon. the turks suspect that mr khashoggi was murdered in the building nearly two weeks ago, which saudi arabia denies. president trump says the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, will leave for saudi arabia shortly to meet the saudi king. let's speak to our turkey correspondent, mark lowen who is in istanbul.

you have been following every twist and turn over this, what's the latest development? quite a few developments in the last few hours. donald trump announce the secretary of state will travel to saudi arabia and he said that he had spoken personally to the king of saudi arabia who has denied anything has happened to jamal khashoggi. but the fa ct happened to jamal khashoggi. but the fact that mike pompeo is going, clearly a sign of the us is taking this very seriously after dragging its feet for sundays. the king of saudi arabia has spoken to the turkish president last night and as a result there was an agreement for turkish investigators to go inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. we expect them to go in later today. there had been some disagreement over the scope of the turkish

search. turkey wanted to use a chemical back could have uncovered bloodstains and the saudis were initially reportedly, gave a negative answer, but they have accepted a full cooperation agreement in that respect. another development, the saudis have announced an internal enquiry in saudi arabia over the disappearance ofjamal saudi arabia over the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. few saudi arabia over the disappearance ofjamal khashoggi. few would saudi arabia over the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. few would expect that to be thorough or impartial but it does mean a step forward after days of completely flatly denying and refusing to engage. i think what has happened is the turks have become increasingly frustrated about the lack of saudi co—operation. there has been talk of international sanctions and punishment, as donald trump put it. that is meaning the saudis are now playing ball a little bit more and are realising just how serious i think this matter is turning out to be. especially as

international companies are now pulling out of the conference in riyadh over the next few days. saudi arabia, a galloping pr crisis for them in the wake of this jamal khashoggi disappearance. thank you very much indeed. time for a look at the weather. hello, susan. it looks quite miserable outside now. this is the picture this morning, a great big hole in the road. it looks like a puddle, but the road has sunk away and they have had so much rain in a short space of time and there is a red alert for further flooding here for the time and there is a red alert for furtherflooding here for the next 24 hours. this is all thanks to hurricane leslie. it is only the fifth time and named at atlantic storm has made its way into the

iberian peninsula. portugal took a battering, so did spain and now this cloud, it is continuing to feed the rain into the south—east of france and that is what we are still contending with, the remnants of that storm possibly throughout the next 24 hours. perhaps you don't wa nt to next 24 hours. perhaps you don't want to go further afield, even if the cloud across you isn't that great. what is the forecast here? in the uk, glorious sunshine and this could be the south of france if we changed the coastline further south. sunshine to the north—west of the uk. in norfolk, looking soggy through the morning. quite a lot of cloud across the southern half of the uk at the moment. a weather front is sitting across the north—east, to the midlands and into the south—west. clear skies in the north and the best of the sunshine for scotland and northern ireland. rain this afternoon for the midlands and part of east anglia. but the far

south—east, on the late afternoon, sussex and kent made peek into sunshine and it could turn out to be warm here as well. the weather front continues to fizzle out as it pushes north through this evening and overnight so dry story but murky across the hills under the dregs of that weather fronts and further south, mist and fog forming the central and eastern areas of england. worth bearing in mind if you are driving first thing tomorrow. a from coming in for scotla nd tomorrow. a from coming in for scotland and ireland. rain coming in and the rain getting into scotland and the rain getting into scotland and strong winds for western scotla nd and strong winds for western scotland with the risk of gales across the western isles. taking into comparison the picture to the south—east, light winds and sunshine up south—east, light winds and sunshine up to 22 is possible when any mist and fog clears across eastern england. a cold front slides its way south on wednesday. not bearing any rain but at the moment it is proving

tricky in terms of the forecast where it may stall across southern areas on wednesday and bring more persistent rain. but for most of the uk, whether state does look like it will be a fine day but for the guaranteed sunshine, the north and west will be the place to be. a bit hit and miss with the front thrown in towards the south east. on thursday we tried to get rid of the front into the continent because high pressure is building. it could meana high pressure is building. it could mean a chilly start to thursday, thanks to clear skies overnight but it should be sunshine on thursday, dry weather and light winds. but a chance of the front in the south still leaving a legacy of cloud around. slightly cooler, particularly for the south—east. temperatures in the high teens. but the picture looking fair as we look further ahead this week. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. theresa may is to make a statement about the brexit negotiations to mps this afternoon as a stalemate continues over

the irish border issue. the duke and duchess of sussex are expecting a baby in the spring of next year. the prime minister and the archbishop of canterbury have sent their congratulations. british shale gas company cuadrilla confirms it has begun hydraulic fracking for natural gas at its site in lancashire. protesters have gathered around a field next to it in lancashire protesters have gathered around a field next to it. sport now on afternoon live with olly foster. england's game against spain, a bit of trouble in the run—up to it? that's right. they‘ re of trouble in the run—up to it? that's right. they're in seville at the moment, it is a 7.45 kick—off tonight, about 3000 england supporters have travelled to the south of spain. some trouble last night, all over social media and pretty ugly, some of it. no reports of any serious injuries or any

arrests, clashes with spanish police, reports of some vandalism, the fa released a statement condemning what they say is unacceptable behaviour, urging those following the team to respect the hosts and act in a responsible manner. they're hosts and act in a responsible manner. they‘ re now hosts and act in a responsible manner. they're now going to work with the uk football policing unit who travel with the fans to the matches abroad to try to identify those involved who were caught on camera. they say that they will sanction any england supporters travel club member found to sanction any england supporters travel club memberfound to be responsible for any disorder. this comes after some trouble in amsterdam in a friendly against the netherlands in march, when about a dozen banning orders were issued. everybody keeping fingers crossed that there is no repeat of those scenes from last night at the match tonight. and as for the match itself, gareth southgate has been saying that some of his players are a bit mentally fatigued, poor

things?! yes, gareth southgate thinks they are lacking "psychological freshness" rather than physical, because they had so little time off after the world cup. looking at major tournaments over the past 20 years that england have been involved in, this summer is by far the shortest between a major final and the start of the premier league, 26 days. that's over a week shorter than the last two major tournaments and with some breaks being up to five or six weeks. southgate joked that perhaps the shcedulers hadn't banked on his team doing so well, although he did concede that that the fixture calendar is complex. after defeat to spain at wembley and a goalless draw last week in croatia, england are still looking england are still looking for theirfirst win in the nations league,

it's a different story for spain, though, who have looked really good under new boss luis enrique. could be a busy night for the england keeper. they are a top opponent and we are prepared for and it is a kernel to challenge for us of as a team and these are the games we want to be playing in and trying to get the win against them. we've prepared well for it and hopefully we can show the fa ns for it and hopefully we can show the fans and the country what we're made of. one other home nation involved tonight. northern ireland away in bosnia—herzegovina, northern ireland yet to secure a point. aaron ramsey will be missing for wales in tomorrow's nations league game against the republic of ireland in dublin. he's been allowed to withdraw from the squad because his wife is expecting twins. manager ryan giggs has called up swa nsea's daniel james from the under—21 squad. giggs is already without gareth bale, who missed thursday's defeat by spain and has returned to his club real madrid for treatment on a groin problem. england spinner liam dawson

could miss the rest of the one—day series in sri lanka. he's been in the first two starting xis but sat out training today with a side strain. england may have to call up a replacement. dawson bowled six overs in saturday's win in the second odi. the squad is in kandy for their next match on wednesday with chris woakes relishing the opportunity to open the bowling again. i don't always see it as the leader of the attack, because obviously, some guys have good days or bad days, i will have the occasional bad days, i will have the occasional bad day and someone has to step up. but i certainly like the idea of pulling the tough overs in this format. you get good rewards from it, sometimes it can be tough like i mentioned but the rewards are there if you do well and execute your plans well. afghanistan's hazratullah zazai has joined a very elite club —

only the third batsman to hit six sixes in an over, in a twenty20 match. it happened in the country's premier league. he managed to knock every ball over the boundary making 37 runs off the over because there was a wide as well. zazai raced to his 50 off 12 balls, equalling the record for the fastest t20 half—century. he joins the likes of sir garfield sobers, herschelle gibbs and yuvraj singh to achieve the feat in all forms of the game. but they still lost the match. that is the sport for now. it all comes down to the issue of border checks. our correspondent chris morris from the bbc‘s reality check is here to talk us through what actually gets checked at the eu's external borders. presumably there are

always customs checks? there are and that is one of the biggest issues at the irish border but there are customs checks and evenif but there are customs checks and even if you have a free—trade agreement, for example, canada has a free—trade agreement with the eu, it isa free—trade agreement with the eu, it is a model which some people like but even though there are no tariffs or taxes paid on goods, there is still a customs infrastructure to check whether things are being done properly. so it is not the same as being ina properly. so it is not the same as being in a single market. there is another type of check which is related to that and that is checks on vat payments and this is an incredibly compact sparked off brexit which we haven't really paid much attention to but at some stage someone is going to have to do that, checks to make sure the right amount of money is being paid. a lot of these things can be done away from borders, they can even use tech ology but the point is that they haven't disappeared entirely. also there are checks on the regulations, to do with the rules of the single market? yeah, and this is really important, yes, they want to make ireland a special case but if for

example you have a consignment of chemicals coming in, the only way you can really tell if it is really the chemical it says on the ten is to test it. some of those tests can be done at factories away from the actual border posts but there are checks which have to take place for things entering the single market. the most comprehensive if you like his tests on food, plants and animals. because this is something where eu law is very specific, the tests have to take place at designated border inspection posts, on the border, and you have to check 100% of documents, a certain number of actual physical consignments as well. that is something where there would have to be a lot of checks. if you did not want to have checks on the land border between great britain and northern ireland. and thatis britain and northern ireland. and that is really the heart of the matter, isn't it, to try to not recreate that hard border on what was the border between northern ireland and the republic? yeah. so if you look at the map, obviously,

what they don't want is this land border. they want it to be as open as it is now. we are highlighting the port of larne, if you don't have checks there, where are you going to have checks on food and animals, for example? at larne there are already some checks for animals going from great britain to northern ireland. if you extended that there would be an awful lot more checks on dairy products, on milk moving in either direction, on any meat producer... so there is some principle if you like for same, we already have some checks so it is not purely an issue of sovereignty. but if you want to have far more checks out when people like the dup and others say, this is too much, this is something which would effectively create in the long—term northern ireland as a separate economic entity from the rest of the uk. but that idea of larne is something which perhaps could be expanded in a future world? it could. and what we understand at

the negotiations in brussels is that the negotiations in brussels is that the uk government, even though dup might not like it, is saying that there could be this system of light touch checks and regulation, where they have drawn the line is, they don't want a customs border down the irish sea, and that still seems to bea irish sea, and that still seems to be a battle between those who say in the eu that the backstop should be just northern ireland staying in the customs union and the uk same, it should be the whole of the united kingdom. if it is the whole of the united kingdom, it should be temporary. and then of course you get into the issue of, what does temporary mean? if there are some tory mps say in, we have to have a precise end date, then the eu comes back and says, then it is not a backstop in all circumstances because if it ends tomorrow, we want to know what happens the day after. when is a backstop not a backstop?! discuss! let's get more for you now

on the announcement from kensington. .. more now on the announcemet from kensington palace that the duchess of sussex is pregnant and is due to give birth next spring. the announcement came as meghan and prince harry arrived in sydney ahead of a 16—day tour of australia and new zealand. joining me now is the royal author and commentator katie nicholl. who is in majorca, lucky thing! i'm afraid i am not in australia, i've got a little baby of my own who needs my full attention at the moment so i am bringing baby news from somewhere where no—one else is in the world, that's the beauty of technology! it's a world exclusive! so what are your thoughts on this announcement? you know, as i was reporting for the bbc on friday, the first thing that sprung to mind when i saw meghan looking exquisite and elegant in her givenchy navy coat was just how loosely fitted it was. and i saw a lot of speculation on

twitter, is she trying to hide a baby bump? i source has told me that meghan didn't touch a drop of red wine and as we all know, her favourite wine is... so i think the clues were there. i think people have been surprised by the announcement, it comes literally as they are about to start certainly they are about to start certainly the most important tour of the year as far as they're concerned, their first big international overseas tour. usually i am on these royal tours and i can sell you —— i can tell you they are seriously hard work, i think the couple are packing in 76 engagements over the next 16 days and it is exhausting and tiring. so, you know, good luck to meghan, because it is very demanding and she's going to be very, very well looked after but i take my hat off to her in these early weeks of pregnancy to be doing what she's doing, she is quite a. chest —— she is quite a duchess! i think the baby would be second or third into the

line, so not huge constitutional significance? i don't know. if you're prince edward, it is because it knocks him out of the top ten in line to the throne. so this little royal baby will have implications for other senior members of the royal family. he or she won't necessarily be titled as in a prince ora necessarily be titled as in a prince or a princess unless the queen chooses to give that title to the child, which, of course, she did for the cambridges. so we will wait and see. but i think it's going to be the first dual heritage baby to be born into the royal family, very exciting news, and the queen we are told is delighted and members of the royal family were told on friday just before the couple headed off for this great tour down under. katie, great to talk you, enjoy your time in majorca! a report just published into bullying and harassment

of staff working in the house of commons has said there is a culture cascading from the top down of deference, subservience, acquiescene and silence, in which bullying, harassment and sexual harassment have been able to thrive and have long been tolerated and concealed. the report follows an investigation by dame laura cox following a bbc newsnight report on a series of allegations including a claim that commons speaker john bercow bullied his former private secretary. something he strongly denies. we can speak to our correspondent johnathan blake, who is in our westminster newsroom for us. just bring us right up to date on exactly what this report is saying and what the reaction has been? well, it's a very political reporter, it pulls no punches in its assessment of what it describes as a shocking culture of bullying and harassment within the house of commons. this means mps as well as

staff and clerks and senior people, senior officials working in the house. and you said there, it describes a culture of secrecy, which has allowed these problems to be made even worse by one the report describes as inadequate procedures, put in place to deal with them. now, this report as you mentioned was prompted in part by those allegations of bullying against the speakerjohn bercow earlier this year, which he strongly denies. the report wasn't looking into specific complaints or claims, it was looking at the problem is a whole. and determining the extent of it. but it goes into detail about some of the things that people working in the house of commons have to put up with ona house of commons have to put up with on a regular basis, being the bot of other people's jokes, on a regular basis, being the bot of other people'sjokes, being on a regular basis, being the bot of other people's jokes, being touched inappropriately, being referred to with inappropriate or even abusive terms on a regular basis. as for what should happen about this, the report says that a planned new complaint procedure will not come

close to sorting out the problem, and the report makes very clear, without naming any names, that the senior leadership of the house of commons are to blame for the culture that exists. and dame laura cox includes in that the speaker's office as well as the other senior offices of leadership within the house of commons. and just in the last few minutes we have had a response from the speakers office, it describes this as a serious report into a serious subject which deserves a serious response. the house of commons commission, the body which oversees the day—to—day running of the house of commons, will meet as a matter of urgency, it says, in the coming days, to consider the resort and —— to consider the resort and —— to consider the resort and —— to consider the report and their response to it. it is clear and authorities are taking this report seriously. thank you very much, jonathan blake. maryam is here — in a moment

she will be telling us what's hot and what's not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. sources within the government warn brexit negotiations have hit a "real problem" over the issue of the irish border. the duke and duchess of sussex reveal they're expecting their first child as they arrive in sydney to start their i6—day tour of australia and new zealand. sit—down protests in lancashire as fracking for shale gas begins again for the first time in seven years. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the uk will face low economic growth for the next three years, according to the latest research from the ey item club. it says a no—deal brexit could dent growth even further. if the forecaster‘s prediction turns out to be accurate, 2018 would be the worst year of growth for the uk economy since the financial crisis. accessories chain claire's is reported to be considering closing some of its uk stores. the press association said the high street chain was talking to restructuring firms

about "a number of options". the chain has more than 370 stores in the uk, according to its most recent accounts. a spokeswoman for claire's said closing underperforming stores was "part of normal business practice". restrictions on royal mail staff selling the free shares they got as part of the privatisation five years ago ends today. and hundreds of staff have complained that they would have been richer had the restrictions been lifted several weeks ago, before the company issued a profit warning. however, royal mail said it had no choice but to tell the city as soon as it realised profits would be lower. you were talking there about the possibility of a no deal brexit and we have had a warning from the head of ford europe? it all comes down to the issue of border checks.

the head of ford's european operations has suggested that a no—deal brexit "would be pretty disastrous" for uk industry and could affect the company's future in the uk. although he said he was "still confident" that a deal offering tariff—free and frictionless trade would be done, steven armstrong told the bbc a no—deal outcome would "force us to have to think about what our future investment strategy for the uk would be". he said a deal based on the existing eu or canada free trade agreement would not work for ford, because while it would allow tariff free trade, it would still involve border checks, and would upset the just—in—time delivery model used by the company in europe. he spoke to our reporter theo leggett a little bit earlier. i think none of us wants to get into a position where we default to wto tariffs. for a business like ours, that would put a significant amount of cost into our business and would force us to have to think about what our future investment strategy for the uk would be because it really all revolves around how competitive we think the uk is as a location to do business. and if we add in tariffs or friction at the borders, then it will become a less

competitive place to be in the future. and there are fears for sears, and tea rs ? and there are fears for sears, and tears? it is like a song, isn't it? sears, once the biggest retailer in the world, has filed for bankruptcy. the firm has been closing stores and selling properties as it struggled with debts of more than £4.3 billion. the company has suffered, along with many other traditional retailers, from rising online competition from firms such as amazon. in it's heydey the firm had more than 3,000 stores and 250,000 staff. it has been a victim it has to be said of what many retailers around the world have been a victim of, which is the rise of online retailers, particularly amazon. joining us now is our north america business correspondent, samira hussain. how did this once giant of the retail sector in the us end up

filing for bankruptcy? as you rightly pointed out, it was absolutely the dominant store here in the united states — and in canada for that matter. but over the years, it really wasn't able to keep up with the changing ways that people started shopping. so, there were a few phases of this decline for sears, first we saw stores like walmart coming into the business, and that really overtook places like sears as the stores which cows sell —— which can sell absolutely everything, and they did so at a price which was cheaper than what sears was offering. and so sears really didn't innovate and change themselves to try to adapt to that. then of course there is online shopping, which has decimated a lot of us retailers, notjust sears, but sears is one where you see the impact quite significantly, based on a few fact has, how many people they employed at one time and also their

actual physical retail spaces, all of these shopping mall is around the united states had sears as their anchor stores and with sears now filing for bankruptcy, those stores are now going to be getting closed. i want to ask you, what happens next for the sears stores that have remained open and the company has a whole? chapter11 remained open and the company has a whole? chapter“ is remained open and the company has a whole? chapter 11 is very unique, remained open and the company has a whole? chapter“ is very unique, it happens here in the united states and it protects them from all of the debts that they have coming at them. and it allows them to restructure, so and it allows them to restructure, so there are stores that have been able to go into chapter 11 and to restructure and re—emerge as a different, more lean kind of store. and that is to hope for sears, that said there can be closing 142 stores around the united states and that is on top of the already announced closures. and it is going to have to try and find a way it can fit into the new retail landscape in the united states and that is going to

be the real task, whether or not they will be able to do that. so as you can see, ben, it is hard the retailers out there unless you can improve your online offering, it is a tough retail environment. thinking about the future all the time. what about the future all the time. what about the future all the time. what about the markets? things are looking better. the pound has bounced back from earlier losses against the dollar and the euro. the pound, of course, is very sensitive to any kind of news on brexit negotiations so it is one to watch when we hear from the negotiations so it is one to watch when we hearfrom the prime minister later this afternoon. we're not exactly sure what time that will be but it will be here live on the bbc new, so when she addresses mps later on. the tiny faroe islands are pushing to be allowed to compete as an independent nation at the olympics. their athletes take part in eight international sports, including football, as the faroes, but in the olympics, they are forced to compete under the flag of denmark. now they want that to change, as our sports correspondent alex ca pstick reports.

stunning scenery in a land miles from anywhere, and with isolation comes a strong sense of national identity, but the faroe islands is facing an uphill struggle for sporting independence. football already offers these faroese fans a chance to express their patriotism through sport, as the national team is recognised by fifa. the players want the same for everyone. we're actually playing for the other sports as well, because they never get that feeling like we do, because we're representing our country, you can represent the flag. signhild joensson is 17—years—old and is on track to achieve the olympic qualifying standard for tokyo 2020, but under the current rules her only route to the games is by applying for a place in the danish team. it feels like it's not fair, because i'm a swimmer like everyone else around the world, and i also have worked for that goalfor a long time. it feels like that's the only thing that's holding me back to reach my biggest dream, that is the olympics, and under the faroese flag.

the faroe islands is unique in many ways, not least its dramatic landscape, but also its remote location in the north atlantic, and the people here are fiercely independent. but as far as the ioc is concerned, it's still a region in the kingdom of denmark, and although it might be self—governing governing, that is not enough for a place in the olympics. in response, the ioc gave us a statement, referring to their rules and regulations which says all countries must be recognised by the international community. the prime minister told me it doesn't make sense. i can't understand it. i don't think it's logic. as i told you, we are a self governing country, and we do hold membership in a lot of international organisations, so it's a broken dream for a lot of our young people if they cannot compete at the olympic games. the faroes are investing heavily in sport, but without olympic medals to aim for, the fear is future generations won't reach the heights

of their full potential. alex capstick, bbc news, the fa roe islands. time for a look at the weather, with susan powell. a reasonably fine end to the day in prospect, the bit of rain around in the midlands. that will be fizzling out in the coming hours. we are going to have quite a murky story for england and wales on tuesday. here is the evening rush—hour, there's the rain i talked of. as we keep clear spells here into the early pa rt keep clear spells here into the early part of tuesday, temperatures could be getting down as low as two or three. double figures elsewhere. the cloud pushing up from the south. misty and murky over the hills.

initially we get clearer skies to the south of the weather front of. any mist and fog should lift fairly quickly and leave some sunshine for eastern areas, always a bit more cloud further west. 13 or 14 in the north, up to 22 degrees in the south—east. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm ben brown. today at 3:00: the prime minister updates mps this afternoon after the brexit talks stall again — over the issue of the irish border. there are one or two very difficult outstanding issues, but i think we can get there, whether we do this week or not who knows? the duchess of sussex is expecting a baby — and is due to give birth next spring. sit down protests in lancashire as fracking for shale gas begins again for the first time in seven years. coming up on afternoon live all the sport.

the football association has condemned the behaviour of some england fans after clashes with police in seville last night, head of the nation ‘s league match against spain. a full update on the sport later and susan powell has the weather. big contrast in the weather at the moment. murky in the south, and also be stormy weather we are seeing further afield across europe at the moment. thanks, also coming up: letters to obama — the former us president read and replied to ten of the approximate 10,000 letters sent to him every day during his presidency. we speak to the author of a new book detailing his correspondence hello everyone — this

is afternoon live — i'm ben brown. theresa may will address mps this afternoon after the brexit negotiations stalled again over the issue of the irish border, only two days before an eu summit billed by brussels as "the moment of truth". hopes of a breakthrough were raised yesterday when the brexit secretary made an unscheduled trip to brussels. but talks faltered over the need for a back—up plan known as the backstop, to avoid the reinstatement of the irish border if a future trade deal isn't agreed. here's our political correspondent, leila nathoo. half full, theresa may knows she needs fuel

for the coming days... looks like they'll be making quite a few cups of tea. to find some way through the brexit deadlock. negotiations have ground to a halt. ministers know the very prospect of a deal has now been thrown into doubt. this is obviously a difficult period. there was always going to be a moment like this, but we should remember a huge amount of progress has been made. there are one or two very difficult outstanding issues. but i think we can get there. whether we do this week or not, who knows? but i know everyone is trying incredibly hard. a whirlwind trip to brussels for the brexit secretary, dominic raab, yesterday. he was on his way back afterjust an hour, finding no common ground with the eu over a back—up plan for the irish border. nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that we're not going to see physical border infrastructure re—emerging on the island of ireland. so those commitments have been made in writing by the british government and what we are saying is, we want no more and no less than the follow—through

of those commitments. what to do if no future trade deal emerges that can keep checks away from this border has long been a sticking point. and northern ireland's dup, the party propping up theresa may's government, are clear they won't tolerate eu proposals that exclude other parts of the uk. this is all designed because the eu wanted to find a way of continuing to tie the united kingdom to its single market and customs arrangements, in other words, to thwart brexit. those concerns are felt across the conservative backbenches and at the highest levels of government. theresa may's brexit strategy hangs in the balance, as unpopular here in westminster, as it is in brussels. morning. there's talk of cabinet walk—outs. reporter: are you going to resign over the prime minister's brexit plan? no, everyone is getting on with theirjobs, we are supporting the prime minister to get the best deal for the country. and opposition parties are calling for a change of course. a future political declaration, that is the next bit

about which we will all fall out with the eu, for the same reason as we always fall out and that's because the government is deeply divided. this is politics around the cabinet table that holding the country back. if the uk is determined to leave the eu, it should, in my view, remain in the customs union and single market. that, in my view, is the least damaging alternative option for the uk as a whole, as well as the least damaging option for scotland. there are obstacles in all directions. she knows navigating this critical week, under pressure from all sides, won't be easy. leila nathoo, bbc news, westminster. let's speak to adam fleming who is in brussels. o bsta cles in obstacles in all directions as was said that, what do you think prevented the talks making more progress over the weekend? british sources have said the big stumbling block and what caused the talks

defaulter yesterday was that the eu has said that that in the withdrawal agreement, this backstop for ireland to avoid the hard border, has to have a pledge that at one point in the future, perhaps northern ireland can still stay in the eu's customs union because that is, what the eu says, the absolute guarantee you don't have border checks. the uk is com pletely don't have border checks. the uk is completely opposed to that because they say it threatens the territorial and constitutional integrity of the united kingdom. we have got to this point after several weeks both sides trying to tweak the text, change the language, look at the legal try and sort the issue out. but the issue is what it was at the start of the day, the fundamental heart of the backstop which was put forward by the eu and

opposed by the uk. you say it sounds fundamental butjeremy hunt said it sounded less dramatic, still 12 outstanding issues, if we can get it all sorted out in the next few days, remains to be seen but generally optimistic a deal can be done. british official here in brussels today said it is just a case are people getting back round the table again and again. and when you say to the british, have a new tried everything and all the ideas at the table, you had to make some hard choices and pick one. they said no, there could be new future options out there that haven't been tried. from the eu perspective, the mood is quite calm. there was a meeting last night from ambassadors from the 27 other member states address by michel barnier‘s deputy. the message was, let the dust settle in the uk and give theresa may some space to try and get a deal together that she can come back to brussels with.

although when you watch the report we have just seen, although when you watch the report we havejust seen, you realise what theresa may is up against and how many fact that she has got to take into account and you wonder if the eu is being too optimistic about what can happen on the uk side of the equation. we will try and explore that now be adam fleming, thank you for the moment. our chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster. what ever deal theresa may comes up with, she has to sell it to her cabinet, her party and to parliament? in order to get an agreement with the eu, it makes it unsellable back home. the more she gives to them, the less likely the dup here and many of her own backbenchers will accept it. that is a problem she has. there are some who think there might be some brinkmanship going on. if you are

the conservative leadership and the whip's office, you need this vote through parliament towards the end of the year, the closer we are to that deadline leaving in march and nearer the prospect of a no deal scenario, which we know there isn't a majority for in this place, that might focus the mind of some conservative mps. but at the moment it sounds like wishful thinking. i am joined byjohn redwood, conservative backbencher, unlikely to be persuaded by that argument. what do you want the prime minister to say to mps today and what do you think she will say? i want her to say that the deal on offer from the european union is acceptable, it doesn't take back control of our laws, money and borders. there is a huge bill for that privilege. i want her to tell the eu huge bill for that privilege. i want herto tellthe eu it huge bill for that privilege. i want her to tell the eu it is an a cce pta ble her to tell the eu it is an acceptable and leave without signing their one—sided withdrawal agreement. that might wake them up and make a more realistic offer. but lam and make a more realistic offer. but i am strongly of the view no deal is

better than a bad deal and this one has a bad deal written through it. what is a realistic offer in your eyes, you are perfectly content to leave with out a deal?|j eyes, you are perfectly content to leave with out a deal? i want the money back and control of our borders. if there is a deal on offer around a free—trade agreement with good things for the united kingdom, one would look at that on its merits. but i start from the proposition, that nothing on offer so proposition, that nothing on offer so far get anywhere near beating no deal and something has got to be no deal and something has got to be no deal to make people like me want to vote for it. you say that, but you are ina vote for it. you say that, but you are in a minority when it comes to the house of commons and something will have to get through here, so how do you square that? we don't need no legislation —— new legislation for a new deal. against the will of parliament? parliament has expressed that. we have said so far in our legislation, if you do no

more legislating, we will leave on the 30th of march 2019 with no agreement. if they wish to push through an agreement they will need primary legislation to embed that agreement and law and parliament will have amended or changed its mind. and a week and my colleagues reserve the right to oppose that. you will be outnumbered because we know that after two years, the house of and is does feel that they will not accept no deal scenario and you are outnumbered. i don't think necessarily am. that would imply that in order to amend parliament's current legislation to leave on the 30th of march, they will need a coalition between the labour party and the conservative front bench because a lot of conservative mps would not support a bad deal, which is what the eu is offering. it is reported as being about 40.|j is what the eu is offering. it is reported as being about 40. i think it will be larger than that. a lot of mps were elected on the basis

that we, the conservative party would implement what the british people said. we have confirmed they have decided to leave the single market and the customs union as well as the european union and stop paying shed loads of money to the european union. if this agreement doesn't deliver that, why would conservative mps want to vote for it? we will hear from the prime minister and what she has to say about this in the next 20 minutes or so. thank you, vicky young. joining me now from belfast is tina mckenzie, policy chair of the federation of small businesses northern ireland. thank you for being here. it is up in the air, we don't know what kind of deal there is going to be, if there is going to be a deal. what are the concerns of your members?m

course, we in northern ireland are familiar with this negotiating and also going down to the wire and close to the dates and times. rhetoric increases when most is at sta ke. rhetoric increases when most is at stake. we are confident and hopeful a deal can be done and the people will support the deal. the idea there will be no deal for northern ireland is just not acceptable. on many different counts, notjust from the business community and what that would do to the economy, but politically what it would do, bearing in mind we have the international agreement of the good friday agreement. within the business community, we will be looking pragmatically and other solutions to what we will call the northern ireland question. our members have come up with an idea of having northern ireland as an enhanced economic place. no worries about our border down the our acr any increase border presents between

northern ireland and the republic of ireland. we are putting forward pragmatic ideas but unfortunately i think some of the ideology and rhetoric is sounding that out. the problem is, politically, in anyway making northern ireland to be different from the rest of the united kingdom isn't it? to give it some kind of special status and that could be seen by some to be ideological reload it. i can hear what you say and the suggestion but that would be the opposition it would run into? this would be very much northern ireland staying within the regulatory position of the united kingdom. in that sense, it sets a very nicely within the united kingdom, but all it does, it allows us kingdom, but all it does, it allows us to actually give the opportunity in northern ireland to increase trade but it gives the gb market the opportunity to have tariff free trade with europe and two others in the business community, that makes sense for great britain but also for the republic of ireland. so it is a

win—win and it gives northern ireland the opportunity to accelerate its economy and maybe then we will be less reliant on the block grant we get from gb as well. you don't think we will end up with a hard border re—established?|j think that would be absolutely catastrophic for northern ireland. and i think for the people of the united kingdom and the people of ireland. so much work was done by many people across the world to give us many people across the world to give us relative peace in the last 20 yea rs us relative peace in the last 20 years and to throw that out of the window based on not getting a deal and not compromising and getting round the table with solutions, would be terribly, terribly sad. i fear what it would mean for northern ireland in the future. good to talk to, thank you so much. policy chair for the federation of small is northern ireland. now i think we can look at what is happening in the

house of commons. theresa may will be speaking with an update on the latest of the brexit talks in the coming minutes. so that is the chamber right now. obviously, those talks stalled and she will be coming to the chamber to brief mps with a little bit more detail about what happened or about what did not happened or about what did not happen in those brexit negotiations. full coverage of that alive when the prime minister gets to her feet. full coverage of that alive when the prime minister gets to herfeet. in the meantime... kensington palace has announced that the duchess of sussex is pregnant. in a statement, it said meghan was expecting her first child in spring next year, and that she and prince harry were "delighted to share the happy news with the public". the announcement was made shortly after the duke and duchess of sussex arrived in australia on their first royal tour as a married couple. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. sydney this morning. the arrival of the duke and duchess of sussex at the start of their 16 day visit to australia, new zealand, fiji and tonga. news of the pregnancy hadn't been announced so were those two ring

binders are subconscious effort to conceal their news for a little longer? and then there was the choice of a long coat for the wedding on friday. was she trying to hide something or was it a sensible choice on a windy day? whatever the truth, shortly after 8:30am london time, kensington palace issued a short statement saying the duke and duchess of sussex were expecting a baby which is due next spring. five months after their wedding at st george ‘s title in winter, at st george's chapel in winter, a child which will be seventh in line to the throne, is on its way. it is the fulfilment of a wish by them both to start a family. harry is known to have a strong rapport with children. meghan too. modern, wonderful parents.

prince harry always brings it to life if there are children there. maybe in another life he was a natural blue peter presenter. briefly then for everyone, something to agree with. it is wonderful news, very happy for them. and for harry and meghan, they face a hectic 16 days on tour with a mass of baby gives no doubt and the prospect of parenthood. nicolas witchel, bbc news. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: sources within the government warn brexit negotiations have hit a "real problem" over the issue of the irish border. the duke and duchess of sussex reveal they're expecting their first child as they arrive in sydney to start their 16—day tour of australia and new zealand. protests in lancashire as fracking for shale gas begins again for the first time in seven years. letters to obama —

the former us president read and replied to ten of the approximate 10,000 letters sent to him every day during his presidency. we speak to the author of a new book detailing his correspondence with everyday americans. the football association has condemned the unacceptable behaviour of some england fans in seville. they are looking to identify any troublemakers after they clashed with police ahead of the match against spain. aaron ramsey will miss wales' game tomorrow evening, his wife is expecting twins. and liam dawson could miss the next one—day international in sri lanka. he has a side strain. i will be back in the next 15 minutes. a report just published into bullying and harassment

of staff working in the house of commons has said there is a culture, cascading from the top down, of deference, subservience, acquiescene and silence, in which bullying, harassment and sexual harassment have been able to thrive and have long been tolerated and concealed." the report follows an investigation by dame laura cox following a bbc newsnight report on a series of allegations including a claim that commons speaker, bullied his former private secretary. something he strongly denies. well let's speak to jess phillips, the labour mp for birmingham yardley, who is also on the women and equalities committee. what do you think about this? what do you think about this7m makes for harrowing reading and considerably widespread. i am not going to suggest for a minute it is like sodom and gomorrah and walking

around parliament as if you can see it everywhere you go. that is not the case. however there is a culture of silence and the report shows clearly, that for the staff there, whether it is that of mps or staff of the house, it can be not a safe place to work. what about your experiences, without going into names, but have you had difficult times in the house of commons?” have seen sexism and sexist attitudes, note two weighs about that. but people will not pick on me because i am not powerless. i will come on tv programmes like this if anyone were to treat me in the manner the staff are being treated in the report, i would come and tell the world. people will not pick on me, but those people don't have a platform. we're talking about a power imbalance where the staff feel they have to be reverential and keep quiet, do as they are told even when they are told it in horrendous

terms, they are threatened. it would not happen to me, because i have power and it is about power and control. how alarming is this we have got this in the home of democracy, if you like? this thing exists everywhere. but there is a specific way the system up the house of commons in the whole works. it relies on patronage and power and it is not a surprise to me at all what has been found in this report. by am deeply saddened, but the matter is, it is how we go from here and how we change this now and what we focus our attention on. how do you change it? we have got this report commissioned and it was commissioned in good faith. we have to listen to it. part of the problem is, the report is very robust and brutal about those currently running the house of parliament administration and that trust is at such a low level, they cannot be in charge of

changing it because nobody will believe it has changed. it is part of the problem that people love the traditions that go with parliament, ina traditions that go with parliament, in a sense it is part of parliament, but at the same time, it all needs modernising? it definitely needs modernising. you can modernise the way we treat our workers and keep all of you know, be nice, fancy paintings and the traditions. but the traditions, they do keep the place a bit old—fashioned. people like me, many people who came for many years before me and strangely enough, because the speaker is going to be one of the people who get scrutinised after this report, he wa nts to scrutinised after this report, he wants to push for change in parliament. we need more women, more diversity and much less, basically old, rich men who think they can get away with murder. great to talk to you, labourmpfor away with murder. great to talk to you, labour mp for birmingham yardley. the energy firm, cuadrilla

has begun fracking for shale gas in lancashire. the work involves pumping liquid underground at high pressure to fracture rocks and release natural gas. it's the first time the controversial process has been tried since it was linked to two small earthquakes near blackpool seven years ago. richard lister reports. this drilling rig in rural lancashire is now the front line forfracking in the uk. after years of debate, delays and demonstrations, work at the cuadrilla plans has restarted but the protesters haven't stopped. they have blocked the road next to the site this morning, the atmosphere though, was subdued. those here believe fracking is a danger to those living nearby and for the wider environment. i feel quite angry that they are forcing this on us. we don't want it, there is no social license,

we want them to go away. we don't need it. it is harmful to the climate, harmful to health and the land. it is pointless. fracking involves drilling vertically and then horizontally before pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into shale rock, which has gas trapped inside it. when the rock fractures, the gas is released and brought to the surface. it is a technique perfected in the united states and now accounts for two thirds of us gas production. energy prices have fallen as a result, but is more reliance on fossil fuels in any one's long—term interest. the growth in renewable has been welcome but confined to the electricity sector and we still use pretty much gas for all of our heating. so if people want to heat their homes and cook their food, we will need it for many decades to come. cuadrilla says fracking could create thousands ofjobs, notjust here but in sites around the country and it insists the environmental risk, particularly from earthquakes,

is extremely small. police cut two protesters free from the tyres they had cemented themselves into outside the site today. this battle against fracking isn't over. the mp frank field has told the work and pensions secretary esther mcvey, that women in his constituency are turning to prostitution as a result of the impact of universal credit — the government's flagship welfare system. the government is under pressure to find extra funding for its flagship welfare system after reports said 3.2 million households could lose £48 a week under the system which merges six working—age benefits. let's hear some of the exchange from the house of commons. mighti might i raised the question i wrote to the secretary of state about about how universal credit is rolled out in birkenhead and how it is not

going as well as we are told in the house of commons. some women have taken to the red light district for the first time. miyaichi come to birkenhead and meet those women's organisations and the police who are worried about women's security being pushed into this position? the right honourable gentleman knows my door is always open to him and i did receive a letter on friday. but we need to work with those ladies and see what help we can give them from the work coaches, right the way through to the various charities and organisations. in the meantime, i might add that perhaps he could tell these ladies that now we have a re cord these ladies that now we have a record job vacancies, 830,000 job vacancies and perhaps there are otherjobs on offer. writing to the president is a hallmark of american life

and when president obama was in white house, every night before he went to bed, he read ten of the letters he'd received. these are notes that regular americans sent to the white house — some supportive, some critical, and others that were completely unexpected. in total, president barack obama received 27 million letters from members of the public when he was in office. the new york times bestselling author, jeanne marie laskas, compiled all of those letters. the result is her new book — to obama with love, joy, hate and despair. shejoins me now. thank you so much for being with us. this is something barack obama did in the white house, but generally presidents don't enter into correspondence with the public? this was something he chose to do, second day of his presidency. he said he

wa nted day of his presidency. he said he wanted to stay in touch and know what is going on with everyday americans. who selects those ten letters a day and he's getting thousands, potentially, so how do you pick ten out of maybe 10,000 a day? 10,000 a day, yes. they had this incredibly devoted group of people who went to that material and pick which tend the president should see and not the glowing ten. it was a representative sample of america's mood each day. what are the ones you think stood out? i know he got them from children, from people who wa nted from children, from people who wanted a better health care system, allsorts? people tended to write a lot of the ones who were moving, people who wrote in desperation. why they are choosing to tell the

president is an interesting question. why would you think to write to the president, it is like writing to santa claus. but in some cases it was like a last effort of reaching out into the wind. then they would get something back, often a handwritten letter from the president. people would be amazed to get a letter back from the president? they must be stunned when it comes through their letterbox? everyone begins their letter, i am sure you will never see this. then they get one back saying yes, i read it and you matter to me. one there that says, thank you for your wonderful note. extraordinary way to runa wonderful note. extraordinary way to run a presidency. did it keep him in touch with the american people?” talked with him a few times about this. he said this is something i saidi this. he said this is something i said i would do in the beginning and idid it said i would do in the beginning and i did it eight said i would do in the beginning and i did it eight years and it sustained me. was one of the words he used. it kept him with an ear to

what the individual stories were going on daily, as opposed to the charts and the polls. here where the individual stories. he said it kept him from getting jaded.” individual stories. he said it kept him from getting jaded. i think he framed one that was about the health ca re system. framed one that was about the health care system. is that right? yes, a letter from care system. is that right? yes, a letterfrom 2009, a care system. is that right? yes, a letter from 2009, a woman writing about why she needed her health care. he kept it framed outside the oval office and it was a reminder for why he was fighting for health care. in terms of those who didn't like president obama, there were plenty of people who didn't, would that be important to him to hear the other side of the coin as much as those who were supporting him? he asked to it. when i said representative sample, i mean representative. many people were angry over many of his policies and sometimes he would write back and say, you misunderstood, this isn't what i meant.

it is interesting because now, of course, we have donald trump, as far asi course, we have donald trump, as far as i know he doesn't read lots of letters from the reckon people but he tweets a lot, he's on social media say what he thinks, interesting to know whether he reads what people tweets back to him? well, it is a different approach, it is talking at as opposed to the letters, i think it is an opposite approach and that is what we are seeing. when you said it was important to barrack obama, did he come up with this idea, was it suggested to him, how did it come about do you think? it came about by at the end of his campaign, the idea that i'm stepping off the campaign trail, this was back in 2008, i used to be able to see people every day, iam now to be able to see people every day, i am now going into a bobble, to be able to see people every day, iam now going into a bobble, i need some mechanism, something, and that was one which he came up with. so

you had for your book to select a number that you were going to look at and analyse — how did you come up with those, what were the ones which really drew your attention?” with those, what were the ones which really drew your attention? i wanted to ta ke really drew your attention? i wanted to take a spread of time so that you could march through the eight years of this presidency and watch it play out through the mail up through this conversation that was going on and a lot of the ones that i picked were ones which were hitting emotional peaks, whether that was related to specific policies orjust individual stories of someone out of work saying, you said the recession is over, not overfor my saying, you said the recession is over, not over for my family, here's what it's like. fascinating sidebar story on an amazing presidency. thank you so much for coming in to discuss that. let's cross to westminster where the prime minister is about to update mps on the brexit negotiations. the statement is happening now...

with permission, mr speaker, i would like to update house ahead of the european council this week. we are entering the final stages of these negotiations. this is the time for cool negotiations. this is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail and it's the time... and it is the time for a clear eyed focus on the few remaining but critical issues that are still to be agreed. yesterday the secretary of state for exiting the secretary of state for exiting the european union went to brussels for further talks with michel barnier. there has inevitably been a great deal of inaccurate speculation, and i want to set out clearly for the house the facts as they stand. first, we have made real progress in recent weeks on both the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on our future relationship. and i want to pay

tribute to both negotiating teams for the many, many hours of hard work that i have got us to this point. in march we agreed legal text around the fermentation period, citizens rights and the financial settlement. and we've now made good progress on text concerning the majority of the outstanding issues. —— fermentation period. taken together the shape of the deal across the vast majority of the withdrawal agreement, the terms of our exit, are now clear. we also have broad agreement on the structure and scope of the framework for our future structure and scope of the framework for ourfuture religion structure and scope of the framework for our future religion should affect progress on things like security, transport and services. and perhaps most significantly, we have made progress on northern ireland, were mr speaker the new have been working with us to respond to the very real concerns we had on their original proposals. mr speaker, let me remind the house why this is so important. both the uk and the eu share a profound responsibility to ensure the preservation of the belfast good friday agreement, protecting the

hard—won peace friday agreement, protecting the ha rd—won peace and friday agreement, protecting the hard—won peace and stability in northern ireland and ensuring that life continues essentially as it does now. we agree that our future economic partnership should provide for solutions to the unique circumstances in northern ireland in the long—term. and while we are both committed to ensuring that this future relationship is in place by the end of the implementation period, we accept that there is a chance that there may be a gap between the two. this is what creates the need for a backstop to ensure that if such a temporary gap we re ever ensure that if such a temporary gap were ever to arise, there would be no hard border between northern ireland and ireland or indeed anything that would threaten the integrity of our precious union. so this backstop is intended to be an insurance policy for the people of northern ireland and ireland. previously, the european union had proposed a backstop that would see northern ireland carved off in the eu's customs union and parts of the single market, separated through a border in the irish sea from the

uk's own internal market. as i've said many times i could never accept that, no matter how unlikely such a scenario would be. creating any form of customs border between northern ireland and the rest of the uk would meana ireland and the rest of the uk would mean a fundamental change in the day to day experience for businesses in northern ireland affect the potential to affect jobs and investment. we published our proposals on customs in the backstop injune and proposals on customs in the backstop in june and after salzburg proposals on customs in the backstop injune and after salzburg i said i would bring forward our own further proposals and that is what we have donein proposals and that is what we have done in these negotiations. and the european union have responded positively by agreeing to explore a uk—wide solution to this backstop. but, mr speaker, two problems remain. first the eu says... laughter first... first eu says there is not time to work out the detail of this uk—wide solution in the next few weeks. so, even with the progress we

have made, the eu still requires a backstop have made, the eu still requires a ba cksto p to have made, the eu still requires a backstop to the backstop, effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy. and they want this to be the northern ireland only solution that they had previously proposed. but we have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our united kingdom. and i'm sure the whole house shares the government's view on this. indeed, the house of commons set out its view when agreeing unanimously part six, section 55 of the taxation cross—border trade act on a single united kingdom customs territory, which states... it shall be unlawful for her majesty's government to enter into arrangements under which northern ireland forms part of a separate customs territory to great britain. so, mr speaker, this message is clear notjust from this government but from this whole house. second, mr speaker, i need to

be able to look the british people in the eye and say, this backstop is a temporary solution. people are rightly concerned that what is only meant to be temporary could become a permanent limbo, with no new relationship between the uk and the eu ever agreed. i am clear we are not go to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory unable to do meaningful trade deals. so it must be the case first that the backstop should not need to come into force, second, but if it does, it must be temporary, and third, while i do not believe this will be the case, if the eu were not to cooperate on our future relationship, we must be able to ensure that we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely. i would not expect this house to agree to a deal unless we have the reassurance that the uk has a sovereign nation has this say over our arrangements with the eu. mr speaker, i do not believe the uk

and the eu are far apart. we both agree that article 50 cannot provide the legal basis for a permanent relationship. and we both agree this backstop must be temporary. so we must now work together to give effect to that agreement. mr speaker, so much of these negotiations are necessarily technical, but the reason this all matters is because it reflects the future of our country. it affects jobs and livelihoods in every community. it is about what kind of country we are and about our faith in our democracy. of course it is frustrating that almost all of the remaining points of disagreement are focused on how we manage a scenario which both sides hope should never come to pass and which if it does will only be temporary. we cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us prospects of a good deal and leave us with a no deal outcome that no—one wants. i continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the uk and for the european union. i continue to

believe that such a deal is achievable, and that is the spirit in which either continue to work with our european partners, and i commend this statement to the house. jeremy corbyn! thank you, mr speaker, and i thank the prime minister for speaker, and i thank the prime ministerfor advanced speaker, and i thank the prime minister for advanced copy of the statement. this really is beginning to feel like groundhog day. another nothing has changed moment from this shambles of a government. almost two and a half years after the referendum, 18 months since the triggering of article 50 and less than six months to go, and what have we got to show for it? yesterday, we saw another brexit minister shuttling over to brussels to come back with his tail between his legs, unable to deliver because of

divisions in the conservative party. order! i appealed earlier for calm andl order! i appealed earlier for calm and i do so again, and i reiterate what people should know by now, and thatis what people should know by now, and that is that there will be ample opportunity for everybody who wants to ask a question, not to shriek across the chamber but to ask a question to do so. so let's have a bit of harsh on both sides of the house. jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. and over the last 18 months red line after red line has been surrendered just even the prime minister's much vaunted chequers plan now appears to be dead in the water just after countless resignations and apparently the threat of even more. even her own conference speech, she could not bring herself to mention chequers. the prime minister must stop the excuses. there is a brexiter deal that could command the support of parliament and the country, a brexit deal which would allow us to rebuild

our communities, regions and our economy and avoid any hard border in northern ireland. but that isn't her deal! and as we reach... and as we reach a critical point in this nation's his to recover we need a prime minister who will for once make the right decision and put the country before her party! and stand up country before her party! and stand up to the reckless voices on her back benches and within her cabinet. for too long, this country has been held hostage to those in her party who want to drive through a raced to the bottom brexit deal that lowers rights and standards, sells off our national assets to the lowest bidder. mr speaker, it is clear...

order, mr... you're normally such a good—natured order, mr... you're normally such a good— natured fellow, order, mr... you're normally such a good—natured fellow, i don't know what's happened to you, i don't know what's happened to you, i don't know what you had for breakfast but i will avoid it! we need an atmosphere of calm, nobody in this chamber will be shouted down, and that's the end of it. jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. mr speaker, it is clear that the prime minister's failure to stand up to the warring factions of her own side have led to this impasse. let me remind the prime minister and have benches what they signed up to just ten months ago, andi signed up to just ten months ago, and i quote... in the absence of agreed solutions, the united kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the internal market and the customs union which now or in the future support north—south co—operation, the all ireland

economy and the protection of the 1998 agreement to. does that still stand? 1998 agreement to. does that still stand ? interesting 1998 agreement to. does that still stand? interesting question for the prime minister. mr speaker, what... mr speaker, what she is now hoping... what she is now hoping is that she can cobble together a deal that she can cobble together a deal that avoids all the big questions as to what our future partnership with the european union will be. isn't it the european union will be. isn't it the case that the backstop is only necessary because the government won't agree to a new, country hands of customs union with the eu with a safe or britain in future trade deals? and mr speaker, how long is her envisaged temporary deal? one—year, five years? britain deserves a bit better than this. the blindfold brexit they're cooking up isa blindfold brexit they're cooking up is a bridge to know where and a dangerously in the dark. let me be

clear, the only thing we can trust this government to do is impose more yea rs of this government to do is impose more years of austerity on the people of this country. mr speaker, the prime minister wants to present brexit as a choice between her deal and no deal. this is simply not the case. there is an alternative option, an alternative which can command the support of parliament and the country. labour has set out our six tests. . . country. labour has set out our six tests... and indeed at times of the prime minister has said she would meet them. labour's plan, mr speaker, is for britain and the eu... order! an even better natured fellow, the honourable gentleman the colchester, normally the embodiment of charm, very over excitable, we will get you in in due course, don't

worry! jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr speaker. labour's plan is to negotiate a customs union to protect jobs and manufacturing. we want a deal that allows us to strengthen rights and working standards so we can avoid a race to the bottom. and we wa nt can avoid a race to the bottom. and we want a deal for all regions and nations which allows us to invest in local infrastructure, local transport and energy markets, so we can grow our economy again. labour will not give the government a blank cheque to go down the reckless path they're set on at the present time. let me be clear, mr speaker, the choice for this parliament should never be her deal or no deal. if this government cannot get a good dealfor this country, this government cannot get a good deal for this country, then this government cannot get a good dealfor this country, then it this government cannot get a good deal for this country, then it has to make way for those who can! the

prime minister, mr speaker, faces a simple... the prime minister, mr speaker, faces a simple and inescapable choice, be buffeted this way and that way by the chaos of her own party, or back a deal that can win the support of parliament and the people of this country. prime minister! thank you, mr speaker, perhaps i could point a few things out to the right honourable gentlemen. first of all he said that the backstop, discussion on the backstop, was in order to avoid the questions of the future relationship. if he had actually listened to my statement, which in fa ct listened to my statement, which in fact he had received an early copy of, he would have seen that i made clear that actually we have made good progress on both the structure and scope of the future relationship, which we've been discussing alongside the withdrawal agreement. he also talks about there

being a better deal available. well, we never here from the labour party exactly what deal it is that they think they want to! order! far too much noise! the prime minister must be heard. what we have heard from the labour party is that at one point they say they want to do really good trade deals around rest of the world, the next moment they wa nt to of the world, the next moment they want to tie us into the brussels trade deals by being part of the customs union! one minute they say they want to respect the vote of the british people in relation to free movement, the next minute they say, actually, no, free movement is still on the table. so what we see from the labour party is constantly no firm proposals on this particular issue. they also talk about being in the customs union and can i say to the customs union and can i say to the right honourable gentlemen, this is perhaps the sort of detail he may not have recognised, but even if you we re not have recognised, but even if you were to go down the route of the sort of deal that might involve

being ina sort of deal that might involve being in a customs union, it would still be necessary to have a backstop in case there was a delay between bringing back in and the end of the implementation period. and certainly on this side of the house, we're very clear about our commitments to the people of northern ireland and our commitments to the united kingdom. and then he says, what have we got to show for all of this that has been undertaken? what we have got to show for it is the vast majority of the withdrawal agreement greed and significant progress and agreement on the structure and scope of the future relationship. and what we also have to show for it is a government that is determined to deliver on the vote of the british people, unlike an opposition that wa nts to people, unlike an opposition that wants to frustrate the people's vote and frustrate brexit! mr iain duncan smith! mr speaker, can i urge my right honourable friend not to

listen to the groundhog opposite, doesn't have any interesting questions, but to rely on one specific question, which is, i agree with my right honourable friend that we are not and will not be in the customs union, that is a pledge that she made and which the british people voted for, to be out of the customs union. but the question i ask her is, when she made her decision on that, how long does she think that this temporary arrangement might last, and most importantly, who would make the final decision as to when it ends? cani final decision as to when it ends? can i say to my right honourable friend that in relation to the uk—wide customs arrangements, we set out when we published our proposals injune out when we published our proposals in june that we out when we published our proposals injune that we would expect out when we published our proposals in june that we would expect that to end by december 2021. but i also say to my right honourable friend, he asks me what i want to see and what i think asks me what i want to see and what ithink in asks me what i want to see and what i think in relation to this arrangement, i don't want to see the backstop having to be used at all.

what i want is to ensure that we deliver for the people of northern ireland through the future relationship and that that future relationship and that that future relationship comes into place on the 1st of january 2021, when the fermentation period ends so that we don't have to see this backstop arrangement being used at all. —— the implementation period. thank you, mr speaker. can i first of all apologise on behalf of my honourable friend who has been delayed in transit mr speaker this morning scotland's first minister launched ample scotland's place in europe, the latest in a series of analyses on the ongoing negotiations, setting out the least worst possible future for scotland. the first of these scottish cup and analysis papers came 18 months before chequers and to date hasn't led to a single resignation from the scottish cabinet. the sense of unity and responsibility being demonstrated by

the government in edinburgh could hardly be in more contrast to what we're seeing from the uk here today. last night's, the negotiations collapsed again. could the secretary of state... did the secretary of state go dashing off to brussels... surely this house is entitled to know what it was which yet again went wrong at the last minute? the government's official excavation is only make sense if the prime minister has decided that the proposal she signed up to last december is unworkable. mr speaker, the reality of all of this weighs heavily across communities, particularly in the island of ireland, we three days away from the eu council summit and government continues to show at best estate and at worst open contempt for the people of ireland and for the good friday agreement. they clearly have no real understanding of what communities on both sides of the

border are feeling about these negotiations. as long ago as last december, the brexit select committee described and overrepresentation of ha rd—liners made it clear that we could not see how it is possible to reconcile there being no... order, i'm trying to hear the honourable gentleman, let's see the fellow. i am well aware there is a lot of noise, he does not need to conduct the orchestra. peter grant. thank you, mr speaker. you can see how backbenches have responded to the appealfor seven in, backbenches have responded to the appeal for seven in, calm backbenches have responded to the appealfor seven in, calm heads, and you can understand why she is struggling to keep her party together. is to speak of it was striking the conquest in the action from the tory backbenchers when the prime minister committed to defending the good friday agreement

and there was at best a lukewarm response and there was then... it tells us where the tory party's priorities are. the conservatives have been playing politics with people's lives for the sake of its own political survival and it is nothing short of disgraceful. and there is a better way, mr speaker, for the prime minister to disown the extreme hardline element in her own party. the prime minister has the chance to resolve the question of the irish border to protectjobs, to prevent economic catastrophe and to respect the result of the referendum in 2016. so will she now accept that she got it wrong, will the prime minister now commit to a damaging that age and brexit, accept that there is a significant consensus in this house in favour of remaining in the singer market and the customs union and can i say to the prime

minister, ignore your own career prospects, ignore the career ambitions of those behind her, look instead at the hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs are at risk if this goes wrong. will she take her head out of the sand and work with those on all benches in this house to ensure that the united kingdom stays in the single market and in the customs union? mr speaker, i will pick up a number of those points. it interests me that the honourable gentleman was talking about the importance to him staying in single market. presumably because of his concern about trade with the european union. well, we want to have a good trade deal with the european union but we also want to be free to be able to negotiate our own trade deals around the rest of the world as well. he referenced, or he questioned, what it was which was still the areas of disagreement between us and the european union in relation to the withdrawal agreement, and i set those out in my statements. i'm afraid he used a

very u nfortu nate statements. i'm afraid he used a very unfortunate term, he said that we we re very unfortunate term, he said that we were showing contempt for the people of northern ireland and ireland. farfrom people of northern ireland and ireland. far from that, people of northern ireland and ireland. farfrom that, it is precisely because we recognise our commitment to the people of northern ireland that we are working hard to ensure that we deliver no hard border between northern ireland and ireland and we ensure that people and businesses in northern ireland are able to carry on their day—to—day lives and their business as they can do today. he also started off by referencing a piece of work that talked about the best economic future for scotland. i hate to have to remind the snp yet again, but the best economic future for scotla nd but the best economic future for scotland is to remain in the united kingdom. mr boris johnson! scotland is to remain in the united kingdom. mr borisjohnson! i know that my right honourable friend will appreciate that in deciding to remain in the customs union, the leader of the opposition is guilty ofa leader of the opposition is guilty of a shameless u—turn and the betrayal of millions of people who

voted leave. wilshere now. . . ? betrayal of millions of people who voted leave. wilshere now...? order, i want to hear the right honourable gentlemen. i want to hear the right honourable gentlemen for oxbridge and south ruislip, let's see the fella, borisjohnson! and south ruislip, let's see the fella, boris johnson! in and south ruislip, let's see the fella, borisjohnson! in that and south ruislip, let's see the fella, boris johnson! in that case, mr speaker, i will repeat that the right honourable gentlemen the leader of the opposition is guilty ofa leader of the opposition is guilty of a shameless u—turn on millions of people who voted leave and will the prime minister confirm as i think she has just prime minister confirm as i think she hasjust said prime minister confirm as i think she has just said that the very latest deadline by which this country will take back control of our tariffs, schedules, and vary those tariffs independently of brussels in order to do free trade deals, we'll be as i think she has just said, december 2021? deals, we'll be as i think she has just said, december2021? if deals, we'll be as i think she has just said, december 2021? if that isn't the deadline, then could she

say what it is? first of all can i say what it is? first of all can i say to my right honourable friend, he's absolutely right in pointing out the u—turn of the leader of the opposition. as i referenced in my response to the leader of the opposition, they cannot hold the position both that they want to do trade deals around the rest of the world and also that they want to be pa rt world and also that they want to be part of the customs union. as i said when we published the temporary customs arrangement proposal that in june, we set that point of the expectation that that would be completed by december 2021, one of theissues completed by december 2021, one of the issues as i indicated in my statement that we are discussing with the european union, is how we can ensure that we do reflect the temporary nature of the backstop and properly reflect the temporary nature of the backstop. i continue to believe that what we should all be doing is working to ensure that the backstop never comes into place and that actually it's not december 2021 that were talking about but it's the 1st of january 2021. 2021 that were talking about but it's the 1st ofjanuary 2021. hilary benn. thank you very much indeed, mr

speaker. in the paper that was published on the 7th ofjune proposing a way of keeping an open border in northern ireland, the government said that its temporary customs arrangement would be in place, and i quote, until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. the prime minister has just reminded the house that she expects those arrangements to be in place by december 2021 at the latest, which incidentally is a whole year after the end of the proposed transition period. but since the expectation of an end date is not the same as a definite end date, when is she going to tell her party that we cannot have a fixed, artificial time—limit on that fallback, which the government is trying to negotiate with the eu? i have done in relation to a number

of questions already on this point. let's look at the purpose of the backstop. it is to be an insurance policy such that if the future relationship is not in place, at the time of the 1st of january 2021, there is an arrangement that ensures no hard border between northern ireland and ireland. it is therefore the time the future relationship can come into place. as we indicated in june, we expect that to be no later than december 2021 but we will be working to ensure that point comes as early as possible. it is in everybody‘s interest to ensure we are able to move seamlessly after the implementation period into the future relationship without actually having to enter into another sort of relationship in the interim period. that is what the backstop would be, that's right we want to work to ensure the backstop never has to come into place. amber rudd. this is

a moment of great importance, which is why the chamber is so full of members of parliament here to speak on behalf of of their communities and the relevance of this particular discussion on behalf of their businesses as well. can i urge the prime minister that when she listens to be very different voices in this house she is blessed to hear from, she makes sure she works on those compromises with the eu, notjust on behalf of the 52% but also the 48%. on behalf of the 100% and we need to deliver on leaving the european union. can i give my right honourable friend be assurance, that what we're looking for is a deal for the future relationship with the european union which is good for the whole of the united kingdom, which reflects the interests of the whole of the united kingdom and ensures we do have that freedom to do trade deals around the west of the world and we protect the jobs and livelihoods that today depend on the relationship and the trading relationship and the trading

relationship with the eu. what we are looking for and what i'm looking for and other people are looking for isa for and other people are looking for is a deal that is good for the whole of the united kingdom. sir vincent cable. can i ask the prime minister why she finds it necessary to make this statement today because it doesn't advance our understanding in relation to ireland, brexit means borders and bureaucracy and ultimately the trail of the good friday agreement? can i said to the right honourable gentleman that he frequently stands in this house and complains about the government not coming to inform the house of. today i come and inform the house of commons and he complains about that as well. that typical liberal democrats. sir william cash. will my right honourable friend confirm that

if we go one second beyond the 31st of december 2020 we will fall into the multi—surveillance framework and we will be accumulating tens of billions of pounds extra year—on—year? does my right honourable friend axa that and she also accept that if we continue to be dictated to by the eu, this country will be brought to a humiliating conclusion? can i said to my honourable friend, obviously he is one of my honourable friend who has paid careful attention to these issues. but i don't agree with these issues. but i don't agree with the situation he has set out. we have been negotiating with the european union and that has seen both the european union recognising the arguments we have put forward and moving their position in relation to those issues. and as obviously recognising our need to

put forward proposals that are a cce pta ble put forward proposals that are acceptable to us but recognise the concerns that have been expressed by the european union. but what we are doing and what i am doing is making sure any deal we have is the deal thatis sure any deal we have is the deal that is best for the future of the united kingdom. a deal that delivers on the brexit vote, but does so in a way that protects jobs and livelihoods. what we are doing in relation to the future relationship, i want to ensure that future relationship can start at the end of the implementation period, in which case there would be no question, a different relationship with the european union for any period of time. the financial settlement we have agreed as part of the withdrawal agreement, as my honourable friend knows, but i remind the house yet again and this was a phrase first used by the user themselves, that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. the prime minister will know there is a fear the government will delay

pinning down any deal until the last possible minute so it can try a bounce parliament with the threat it is her deal or no deal. she knows that would be an acceptable to parliament. but she also knows how damaging no deal would be in terms of security as well as jobs and the economy. will she confirm it would be better to apply for an extension to article 50 than to crash out with no deal? can i say to the right honourable lady, i do not believe we should be extending article 50. i have been very clear we should not be extending article 50. i am bemused by her first suggestion, be extending article 50. i am bemused by herfirst suggestion, we have legislated for processed here in parliament that ensures there will be, not just in parliament that ensures there will be, notjust the deliberations this house will rightly have on the withdrawal agreement and implementation bill, but there will bea implementation bill, but there will be a meaningful vote in this house prior to that. members on the labour

benches saved when? we are still in negotiations with the eu in terms of delivering on the deal and we continue to work to the timetable that has been set out. anna soubry. would my right honourable friend agree with me, this is not what leave voters voted for. leave voters and businesses in my costs to constituents, by the time we would lead the european union. they were told it would be the easiest deal and it would hold the gstadt is same benefits as a membership with the single market and the customs union. we now see is complete chaos and a total mass. but the prime minister consider that if her government cannot get a grip on this, if parliament cannot get a grip on

this, then it is time to face up to the fact that brexit cannot be delivered, take it back to the people and have people's vote. can i said to my right honourable friend, that as i have consistently said on this issue, this parliament, this parliament voted overwhelmingly to give the choice to the british people as to whether to leave remain in the european union. the people voted to leave the european union andi voted to leave the european union and i believe it is a matter of faith in our democracy, of the integrity of politicians that we deliver for people on that boat. and i also say to my right honourable friend, that's why i think it is so important that we recognise, there is talk of people's votes, going back to the people for a vote, the

people voted in 2016 and they voted to leave. it can never be right that we have any kind of borders in the irish sea between northern ireland and the rest of the united kingdom. she knows that we cannot support any deal that create a border of any kind in the irish sea. not by words, but the words of ruth davidson, the leader of the scottish conservatives. will she confirmed today that a proposed backstop that would see northern ireland calved off in the eu customs union and parts of the single market, separated through a border in the irish sea from the uk's own internal market, could never be accepted by her? she has said that today, would she confirm it is single market and customs union, the uk leaving the eu together with no part hived off

either in the single market or customs union? when the uk leaves the european union it will be the uk that leaves. we will be leaving the european union to gather. i am very clear there should be no hard border between northern ireland and ireland. we have put forward proposals and we can deliver on that and maintain the integrity of our union. of course, what we are looking at in relation to, we made that very clear when the european union made their proposal that would effectively have carved northern ireland away from the rest of the united kingdom, in their backstop proposal. it is because we cannot accept their backstop to a backstop because they continue to want to see that. in fact, what we want to see ina that. in fact, what we want to see in a backstop is a situation where northern ireland businesses can both export freely to great britain and to the european union. that would be a good position for the northern ireland businesses. i am trying to

signa ireland businesses. i am trying to sign a withdrawal agreement without having legally binding text on the partnership would lead the uk in a deeply vulnerable position and unable to negotiate properly. will she confirm that no deal is still a lot better than a bad deal and a bad deal is giving 39 a way that we need to spend on our priorities, for no good reason? i still do believe that no deal is better than a bad deal. i am still working for the best outcome of the uk, which is a good, negotiated deal with the european union for the future. but we continue with our no deal preparations. we have indicated in relation to the financial settlement, as my right honourable friend will note the discussions and negotiations have already taken place, but we are clear about the importance of linking the withdrawal

agreement to the future relationship, such we cannot find ourselves in a limbo situation and we can see the future relationship committed to by the european union and put in place, as i say, i want to see put in place on the 1st of january 2021. this issue of the irish border is a direct result of the wilful dismissal of its importance before the referendum campaign and the wilful disregard of its importance by leading exit advocate since the referendum. will the prime minister confirm that one of the reasons she rejects canada style agreement has been completely unsuitable for the uk, is not only because of the huge, economic damage it would do to industries dependent on multinational supply change, but also it would result in a hard border which would break commitments

this country has made? can i say to the right honourable gentleman, what we have seen from the european union isa we have seen from the european union is a canada style deal is not available, albeit on offer for the whole of the united kingdom. it is only an offer for great britain with northern ireland actually effectively carved out from the rest of the united kingdom. the proposals the government has put forward following the discussions the cabin had injuly following the discussions the cabin had in july at following the discussions the cabin had injuly at chequers are focused ona had injuly at chequers are focused on a free—trade deal with frictionless trade at its heart. a canada deal does not deliver on frictionless trade and therefore does not deliver the absolute guarantee of no hard border between northern ireland and ireland or frictionless trade at our other borders. the prime minister is right to say and negotiated deal is the best dealfor to say and negotiated deal is the best deal for the uk. to say and negotiated deal is the best dealfor the uk. she is right to say protecting the union is of fundamental importance to all members on both sides of the debate.

but as we have heard from the member for wokingham, there are people who disagree with her when she says it would leave us with no deal outcome no one once. there are people in this house, on these benches who wa nt this house, on these benches who want a no deal outcome. the member is nodding. can i say, the people in this country are concerned and worried about no deal. businesses, eu citizens living here, british citizens living in the eu. can i urge the prime minister to ensure we don't slip into any nadeem scenario, because this house will not support it, i believe and then would have this step into the negotiations. as isaid this step into the negotiations. as i said earlier, i am clear we are working to get a good dealfor i said earlier, i am clear we are working to get a good deal for the united kingdom. it is right we continue our preparations for no deal because we do not know the outcomes of the negotiations. it is rightly ensured the deal we bring

backis rightly ensured the deal we bring back is a good dealfor the rightly ensured the deal we bring back is a good deal for the whole of the united kingdom. liz kendall. does the prime minister stand by the commitment made by the brexit secretary to this house last week, that the government will publish a specific end date to the irish backstop as part of the withdrawal agreement? as i said earlier, both in my statement and response to other questions, one of the issues we are discussing with the european union remains this issue of ensuring there is temporary arrangement to there is temporary arrangement to the backstop and we cannot be in a permanent relationship of that sort with the european union. the backstop is intended as an insurance policy for the people of northern ireland. i don't think, i don't want the backstop ever to be put in place, i want to make sure we

negotiate a deal back and start at the implementation period. sir peter bottomley. after the referendum, a large majority of mps were elected to help this country negotiate a future outside the eu, with trade arrangements which are sensible and allow others to use the control over money, borders and the like which is beneficial to us and others. can my right honourable friend that less friction is better than more friction? can i say to my honourable friend, precisely because we believe in the value of frictionless trade we have put forward a proposal which would deliver on frictionless trade. it must be obvious to the prime minister that there is no majority in this place for a hard or no—deal brexit and she cannot do the sensible thing on customs union and

single market because half her party and the dup will not let her. is she not tempted by the suggestion by her honourable friend, the way out of this mess will be people's vote?” am going to repeat again what i have said in response to the right honourable gentleman. the people had a vote in 2016. it was in a referendum. this parliament gave the people that vote and the people voted to leave and that is what we will deliver. justine greening. whether leave all remain, in the past britain may have pooled its sovereignty but we have neverjust given it away. does the prime minister accept the common rule book represents a unique loss of sovereignty for britain. but for the first time we will have tied the hands of future generations to be

bound by rules that they will have had no chance to write? no, i don't agree with my right honourable friend on that definition that she has set out, precisely because the proposal we put forward involves a parliamentary lock and it will be this parliament to decide on the rules, whether we adopt them and whether we adopt any further changes to those rules. mr christopher leslie. is it the prime minister's problem, she is dancing to the tune of the hard brexiteers, the duo from oxbridge and somerset and we shouldn't be surprised she is taking the country to an inferior, low—grade, hard brexit fta deal? would she give an undertaking when members of parliament look at the deal and this ideas and right for the country and that if we decide a different course, she will respect the decision members of parliament to put this question to people's vote ? to put this question to people's

vote? the right honourable gentleman will know that this is very clearly set out, what the process would be, what the procedure would be where it to be the case this government were to be the case this government were to bring a proposal back to this house and a meaningful vote was not to support a particular proposal. what are the cross—border transactions between northern ireland and the republic of ireland which so threatened the integrity of the european single market and customs union, that they cannot be resolved by existing techniques, existing processes under existing law, none of which require hard infrastructure on the border? can i say to my right honourable friend, that there are arrangements in relation to custom checks that would be put in place, where in upper case

come to an agreement to have a customs arrangement that did not require those checks to take place. i have seen and heard of a number of proposals for technical solutions to deal with those issues. i have to say to my right honourable friend, some of those technical solutions effectively mean moving the border and it would still be a border. some involve equipment which could come under attack and some involve a degree of state surveillance, which i don't think would be acceptable in northern ireland. it is reported today that the prime minister wants the meaningful vote to take place on the meaningful vote to take place on the 27th of november. the 27th of november is the same day as the european courts ofjustice will hear the scottish court's referral on the question as to whether article 50 can be unilaterally revoked. is she afraid of mps knowing the answer to that question before we have the meaningful vote? first of all the

honourable lady is making an assumption about the meaningful vote and we are still in negotiations. no, the point about article 50 and whether it can be withdrawn, revoked is that this government will not be revoking article 50, we will be keeping article 50. the government was right to reject that part of the commission's proposals that would have threatened the integrity of the united kingdom, but it is salutary what the european commission produced, was a deal that would have been worse than no deal. despite that, can my right honourable friend assure me and the house that she will continue to work very hard to make sure that we get a deal? because i believe that apart from a relatively small number of people who genuinely believe no deal would bea who genuinely believe no deal would be a good thing for this country and a few people who would vote against a few people who would vote against a dealfor purely a few people who would vote against a deal for purely partisan reasons,

there is an enormous majority in this house for a negotiated settle m e nt this house for a negotiated settlement to this procedure?” this house for a negotiated settlement to this procedure? i can give him that reassurance, we will continue to work for a good deal because that is the best outcome for the people of the united kingdom. the dup, who have sustained the prime minister in office have made it clear they think no deal is almost inevitable. what does she think? we continue to work for a good dealfor the think? we continue to work for a good deal for the whole of the united kingdom. i wish my right honourable friend every good thing in this negotiation. but i do point out to her that we are heading towards a conclusion where we are going to be in at least a two—year relationship with the eu, which is a condition of vassalage because we have absolutely no say in the rule—making and then we will be bound by a common rule book

afterwards, even if she is successful. i have to say, even in those circumstances, i will not be able to support the government in this unless this matter is put to the british people again. it is entirely different from what... from what was discussed and the ghostly aitor during the referendum in 2016. cani aitor during the referendum in 2016. can i say to my right honourable friend, i think i recall the time when he was in favour of the government negotiating an implementation period for withdrawal from the european union, to bridge the point be doing leaving on the 29th of march 2019 and the point at which the future relationship would come into place. we have set out the reasons why it is important that at the heart of our future relationship isa the heart of our future relationship is a deal which has frictionless

trade at its heart. that is a good free trade dealfor the trade at its heart. that is a good free trade deal for the united kingdom which allows us to take good trade deals from others around the world. can the prime minister give a firm commitment not thing will be agreed with the european union that would exclude northern ireland from any part of any future uk trade deals? we will be negotiating trade deals? we will be negotiating trade deals in the future relationship in behalf of the whole of the uk, including northern ireland. mrjacob rees mogg. thank you mr speaker. my right honourable friend made the excellent point that it would be unlawful to have a separate customs arrangement for northern ireland. why did that point escaped the negotiators until so late in the process ? negotiators until so late in the process? the point about not having

a customs border down the irish sea is not a point that has escaped negotiators. we were clear when the proposal was first published by the european union and we have consistently been clear that such an arrangement was one the uk government could not accept. does the existence of a backstop serve only to illustrate the fact the prime minister has wasted the last two yea rs ? prime minister has wasted the last two years? no. employees in the car manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and food and drink sectors want a single rule book with frictionless trade. can the prime minister confirmed this remains her negotiating position? we continue to negotiate that the best deal for the future is one that has frictionless trade at

its heart. that'll be good for businesses, jobs and livelihoods here but also be delivered upon the vote of the british people. given the trouble being caused to the prime minister by a relatively small number of members of this house, doesn't she now regret not seeking cross— party doesn't she now regret not seeking cross—party consent to her negotiating objectives? we have a clear negotiating objective in relation to the deal we are getting from the european union. what i see from the european union. what i see from the european union. what i see from the labour party front bench is not a consistent approach in relation to that. this government set out our approach at lancaster house and has followed that too at every stage of the negotiations. when it comes to signing the political declaration on the future relationship, with my right honourable friend confirmed the declaration will be clear, specific and binding so business has more

certain tree and we don't begin another period of brexit fog and uncertainty? can i say, besides i wa nt to uncertainty? can i say, besides i want to ensure there is a proper linkage between the withdrawal agreement and the future relationship, so certainty can be given about what the future relationship is and that will come into place. i think that is what this house will want to see as well when it comes to looking at the meaningful vote. the when it comes to looking at the meaningfulvote. the prime when it comes to looking at the meaningful vote. the prime minister has chastised labour's test, let's look at the one she has said broch frictionless trade must be the condition to signing up for the withdrawal agreement. 2.5 years on all the whizbang technology you like and the temporary customs arrangement later, shows only staying in the customs union can do that. so in meeting her own test, the same challenge will face that she faces now, is it friction with the rg or the future of northern

ireland that matters more? her refusal to let the british public sort this out through a final save deal... can i say to the honourable lady, the british people made their decision on us leaving the european union. if she wants to know how to deliver frictionless trade, union. if she wants to know how to deliverfrictionless trade, read union. if she wants to know how to deliver frictionless trade, read the white paper. i am delighted my right honourable friend has rejected the proposal offers it to be in a customs union with the eu which was rejected by this house injuly. apart from having our tariffs and trade policy determined by brussels about is having a seat at the table, we would not have trade defences, no control over trade preferences with the developing world. will she agree it would be illogical to agree to be ina it would be illogical to agree to be in a customs union with the european union beyond december 2020? can i first of all commend my right

honourable friend for the work he did on our trade policy when he was trade minister. can i say to him, i absolutely want to see that we are able to put those new trade arrangements into place at the end of the implementation period. i want to see the future relationship coming into play at that point, which will be the 1st of january 2021. does the prime minister axa does the best interests of the country are not served by a gaggle of self—serving cabinet threatening to resign, but they would beat by allowing the people vote in people's vote ? allowing the people vote in people's vote? i am quite happy to repeat what i have said in answer to all of those members of this house who have proposed that people's vote. we had a people's vote, it was called a referendum and the people voted to leave. i welcome the prime

minister's statement and the progress that has been made, but with my right honourable friend make clear that throughout the tangle of these difficult negotiations, security cooperation must remain a national priority and will she confirm unequivocally, this will be the case? i am happy to give that reassurance to my right honourable friend and i am pleased to say we are making good progress in our discussions with the european union on both external and internal security matters. the prime minister has ruled out a canadian style free trade agreement and as she rightly says, such an agreement would not lead to frictionless trader would be disastrous for food, automotive and aerospace industries. but can she explained how she can guarantee jobs in these industries and deliver free trade if the uk leaves the customs union and will be is arrangements be detailed in the political

declaration we will have to devote on? the honourable lady wants to know how we would deliver frictionless trade — read the white paper. how we would deliver frictionless trade - read the white paper. the prime minister spoke about the need to ta ke prime minister spoke about the need to take a cool and calculate it approach to the negotiations, and really everything that's been achieved so far in the negotiations has been as a result of that approach. but doshi agree with me there to have the sort of free trade that we want, it must be frictionless or as frictionless as possible with the eu so that our manufacturers can continue to have those very important businesses and all thejobs those very important businesses and all the jobs that those very important businesses and all thejobs that go those very important businesses and all the jobs that go with them? and with that in mind i hope she will send our brexit secretary, the right honourable member for esher, send our brexit secretary, the right honourable memberfor esher, as over the channel as often as possible to achieve the result we want, which is achieve the result we want, which is a good dealfor britain! achieve the result we want, which is

a good deal for britain! can i say to my right honourable friend that like him! to my right honourable friend that like him i think, absolutely agree with the importance of the point about frictionless trade, because what we want to see in the future is a united kingdom that is not only able to have good trade deals around the rest of the world but also has a very good trading relationship with its near neighbours in europe. and is able to continue, manufacturers here, are able to continue to operate on the basis that they have done so far. could the prime minister update the house about the progress being made about the other border between the uk and the eu, the border between gibraltar and spain? yes, i am happy to say to the honourable lady that discussions are continuing in relation to the matter, because this will be of course part of the withdrawal agreement that we will look to enter into and there have been positive and constructive negotiations taking

place, but they are still in progress. the prime minister has a lwa ys progress. the prime minister has always said that the united kingdom will leave the eu on the 29th march next year, and any agreement will be based on ending the free movement of people, not sending billions of pounds to the eu each and every year, making our own laws in our own country, judged by our own judges. does she still believe that that is possible? yes. the good friday agreement took months of intensive negotiation and then was agreed by simultaneous referenda by overwhelming majorities in both northern ireland and the republic. the position as regards the 2016 referendum was that it was a narrow majority on an advisory referendum.

which does the prime minister think is more important? can i say to the honourable gentleman that i think that both of these are important, that's why what the government is doing as we negotiate the terms on which we are leaving the european union and the terms of our future relationship, that's why we are very clear that we remain fully committed to the belfast agreement.” clear that we remain fully committed to the belfast agreement. i don't wish to labour the point butjust like my right honourable friend the memberfor like my right honourable friend the member for loughborough, my businesses and constituents in south cambridge are terrified of a no deal, too. if that comes to pass and the prime minister will not entertain an extension of article 50 but accepts the reality that there is no way no deal will pass through this house, i ask with the greatest of respect what option does that leave us other than going back to the people? what else can we do? she is making a number of assumptions in the question that she has asked

and... she has made a number of assumptions. we are working to get a good deal with the european union, if it were the case that at the end of the negotiation process, actually it was a no deal, both sides agreed that no deal was there then we would come back to this house and we would see what position this house would ta ke see what position this house would take in the circumstances of time. mr speaker, the prime minister keeps advising honourable members that if they want to know how to keep frictionless trade, they should just read the white paper but surely, the salzburg summit taught her that the white paper is completely and utterly dead in the water. what is her plan b? can i say to the honourable gentleman that that is not the case, we've been negotiating with the european union on the structure and scope of the future relationship and we have been doing that on the basis of proposals that we put forward in the white paper. in trying to come up with a

constructive solution, can i ask my right honourable friend to remind the eu what they actually signed up for in last december‘s joint report, they signed up for unfettered access for northern ireland's businesses to the whole of the rest of the united kingdom. they also signed up to her commitment to follow only those rules that were necessary for that north—south co—operation. perhaps if she reminded them what they've signed up to, we might make some progress. you does indeed make a very good point, that was a joint report and it was very clear the basis on which we were looking to ensure that we avoided a hard border between northern ireland and ireland. some people in the house have been supporting the government seem to think the solution is to have a hard border in northern ireland but not to enforce itjust isn't that prospect just a myth? ireland but not to enforce itjust isn't that prospectjust a myth? the

government is committed to ensuring that we have no hard border and that is what we are working for. will my right honourable friend confirm that when she meets her eu counterparts later this week she will tell them that although we are a patient people, our patience is not inexhaustible and that if they continue to maintain their present negotiating stance of seeking to divide the united kingdom internally, we will have to assume they're not serious about achieving a negotiated settlement and we will therefore be obliged to prepare for no deal? i say to my right honourable friend and we are all operating on a timetable, we're going to leave the european union on the 29th march next year, we are clear that in order to get legislation through this house there isa legislation through this house there is a timetable we need to follow and therefore need to come to the end of these negotiations to match that timetable. and i have said, i'm very clear and the government is very

clear and the government is very clear that we cannot accept a situation where we would see northern ireland effectively divided away from the rest of the united kingdom. studio: we will leave that debate on brexit in the chamber of the house of commons, where we heard the prime minister say that real progress has been made in recent weeks on the brexit negotiations, a deal, she said, is achievable. and that there has been progress on the issue of northern ireland, but still clearly questions that remain and in answer to that, the opposition leader, jeremy corbyn, said it was groundhog day, another nothing has changed moment from this shambles of a government. let's go to our political correspondent vicki young, who's been listening and watching. the prime minister seemed a bit frustrated in a way when she said that what is holding this up essentially is the backstop to the backstop? yeah, her point is that she says everyone hopes that they never need to use the backstop, this

legal guarantee that there will be no hard border between northern ireland, which of course will still be in the uk, and the republic of ireland, which, of course, will still be in the eu. that's what they're trying to sort out. i think they're trying to sort out. i think the question is that she had a much more conciliatory tone, you remember after the salzburg summit, it was all pretty aggressive, she is not saying that now, she is saying that she thinks the two sides are not far apart. but there is an issue, of course, with this idea of the northern ireland backstop. there's clearly been a breakdown in the talks since yesterday over all of this, nothing more planned now before the summit on wednesday. that's where the breakthrough is going to country should she laid out to mps why she has a problem with what's on the table at the moment. first dean eu says there is not time to work out the detail of this uk—wide solution in the next few

weeks, so even with the progress that we have made dean eu still requires a backstop to the backstop, if effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy. and they wa nt for the insurance policy. and they want this to be the northern ireland only solution that they had previously proposed. we have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our united kingdom. and i'm sure the whole house shares the government's view on this. indeed, the house of commons set out its view when agreeing unanimously part six, section 55, of the taxation cross—border trade act, on a single customs territory which states... it shall be unlawful for her majesty's government to enter into arrangements under which northern ireland forms part of a separate customs territory to great britain. so, mrspeaker, customs territory to great britain. so, mr speaker, the message is clear notjust from this so, mr speaker, the message is clear not just from this government but from this whole house. second, mr

speaker, i need to be able to look the british people in the eye and say this backstop is a temp recently in. people are rightly concerned that what is only meant to be temporary could become a permanent limbo, with no new relationship between the uk and the eu ever agreed. —— a temporarily solution. i am clear we agreed. —— a temporarily solution. i am clearwe are agreed. —— a temporarily solution. i am clear we are not going to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory of labour to do meaningful trade deals. so it must be the case first at the backstop should not need to come into force, second, that if it does, it must be temporary. and third, while i do not believe this will be the case, if the eu were not to cooperate on our future relationship, we must be able to ensure that we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely. so, the big question is, how does she guarantee that? i think what was most striking is that we had iain duncan smith, boris johnson and others getting up and asking her, are you going to make

sure that there is a date, a time—limit on that? and all she would say is that the expectation was that bad customs arrangement would end by december 2021, and as many people pointed out, expectation is not the same as a guarantee. i think the other telling moment was when nigel dodds of the dup got up, he wanted more assurances from her, because he said it's notjust about northern ireland being treated differently as part of a customs union, could she guarantee that northern ireland wouldn't be left in parts of the single market as well? i thought very significant she didn't answer that, either, and just said that there would be an advantage for northern ireland if they could export to both great britain and the european union. she also ruled out a canada style trade deals solely that wasn't on for the whole of the united mccain —— of the united kingdom. that is something which many people are pushing her to

start to discuss, a complete alternative to the plans she has on the table. but i think where we are now there are still people who fear that she's going to have to compromises more, and the more she compromises more, and the more she compromises with the eu, the less likely it is that she will be able to get it through this place when it comes to vote here. vicki young, thank you very much. and now we can talk to david phillimore who is in belfast, a professor of european politics at queen's university belfast. 5—0 being with us. the prime minister was making it very clear that real progress has been made on of issues but this whole question of the irish border double as we knew, is the sticking point, the idea off the backstop, can this circle be squared, do you think?” think it is very difficult to square this circle, when the british government is intent on leaving the customs union and the single market. if you're going to avoid the hard border that the prime minister insists that she wants to avoid, thenit insists that she wants to avoid, then it is very difficult to do so if you're going to be bringing in

quota controls through leaving the customs union and regulatory divergences i leaving the single market. and it seems that it's the date on the backstop which is the real sticking point at the moment? the date, yes, but i think what is interesting in what she said today, she is talking about two backstop the. i think we could possibly envisage a temporary backstop for the uk where you could have the date included. but then you have to have the backstop to the backstop relating to northern ireland, because you don't want to run the risk of the future uk—eu relationship not delivering this section of trade which the prime minister maintains that she wants it to do so. what is important to note is that the irish government has been exceedingly clear that it is totally unwilling to accept a backstop that doesn't allow for it being a genuine backstop such that northern ireland would continue to be in the customs union and the single market for goods in case there is not a future agreement

which secures that absence of a hard border. and politically, the difficulty for her, and this is a sort of nightmare scenario, is that this is in a sense the key issue and the dup is what keeps her in power at the moment? yes. and they've been very clear that they are unwilling to a cce pt very clear that they are unwilling to accept any differentiation between great britain and northern ireland. i think as your correspondent indicated it was very interesting the way in which the prime minister did not respond directly to nigel dodds' questions. so, i suppose i come back to my original question — she is hoping and she says she is still confident that a deal is achievable — who is going to give ground on this, the eu or her? i find it very difficult to see the eu giving ground. i think the solidarity which has been expressed with ireland is very, very clear. it is very, very firm. what i would also add is that if we go back to the draft withdrawal agreement which was produced in march and earlier this year, one that is colour—coded, the provision allowing for the backstop the northern

ireland is in green. the terms of the backstop, what it actually covers, is left on shaded but it is very clear that the final statement — unshaded — ensures that the protocol will remain in force until such time as the agreement on the future relationship negates the need for it. thank you very much. time to join olly foster with the sport. england are playing spain tonight and there was some trouble in the town of, their last night. the fa have condemned what they called an a cce pta ble have condemned what they called an acceptable behaviour and they have urged those following the team to respect their hosts and behave in a responsible manner gets —— in the town of seville. there are no

reports of any arrests just they are now going to work with the uk football policing unit to identify those involved and they say they will sanction any england supporters travel club member found to will sanction any england supporters travel club memberfound to be responsible for the disorder. this comes responsible for the disorder. this co m es after responsible for the disorder. this comes after some trouble in amsterdam in a friendly against the netherlands back in march. there we re netherlands back in march. there were 90 arrests there and around a dozen banning orders were issued if one other home nation involved tonight, northern ireland. you can go to the bb sport website for the buildup to that game. aaron ramsey will be missing for wales in tomorrow's nations league game against the republic of ireland in dublin. he's been allowed to withdraw from the squad because his wife is expecting twins. manager ryan giggs has called up swa nsea's daniel james from the under—21 squad. giggs is already without gareth bale, who missed thursday's defeat by spain and has returned to his club real madrid for treatment on a groin problem. billy vunipola is out of the test

series next month. he broke his left arm claim the saracens against glasgow over the weekend. you can see him holding it at the back of the maul there. it will roll out until about christmas. his brother mako vunipola pick up a calf strain in the same match. billyjones names his -- in the same match. billyjones names his —— eddiejones names his test squad later this week. so, no billy vunipola for england. that is all the sport. now on afternoon live, let's go nationwide and see what's happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. let's go to nick owen, who is in birmingham for us, where local paramedics have warned of the growing strain being put on their resouces by incidents relating to the synthetic drug black mamba. and tomos morgan is cynon valley is south wales for us,

where communities are responding to the worst flooding seen in some parts for 30 years. so, nick, what exactly is black mamba? it is described as a psychoactive substance, mind altering, it is... it's rolled into a joint to smoke it, as cannabis users do, and apparently leaves people in a sort of haze. it used to be a so—called legal high, but it was becoming such a problem and so many people were becoming addicted that the government changed its status a couple of years ago under the psychoactive substances act, so it is now outlawed. now people who produce it, sell it or distribute it can be jailed. so why is it putting such a strain on the ambulance service? in the

west midlands ambulance services are being called out between 80 and 100 times a week in cases relating to black mamba. in march this year, public health england sent an alert to drugs workers in the region after the deaths of seven men, all thought to have resulted from the use of black mamba. thankfully, most of the cases the paramedics deal with aren't fatal, but they are still spending valuable time travelling out to help people who are in? trouble after taking it. in fact, they've been to one particular hostel in birmingham some 584 times in two years. it isa it is a waste of time, for any memberof the it is a waste of time, for any member of the public, they're obviously going to call the emergency services and we are going to turn up and looked after them as best we can train but i suppose, well, it is a drain on our resources because primarily we are not really therefore that. so what's in it to make it so dangerous? i wish i could tell you! even the experts are baffled! our inside out team took a sample to the labs and they discovered a high concentration of something strange mixed in with the plant.

it's been spiked with something to make it more potent and they don't know what it is! they have a database of literally thousands of chemicals and they can't find a match, it's a totally unknown chemical. really bizarre — and rather worrying. nick owen, for the moment, thank you very much. we can go to south wales now, and tomos morgan. south wales bore the brunt of storm callum over the weekend didn't it tomos? yeah, south—west wales was particularly badly hit and i'm standing on the bridge here and only about 24 hours ago this railway track behind me was still covered in water and on friday night passengers on the train were stranded and the emergency services have to come out and help those individuals of the train. some areas of south wales have seen some of the worst flooding

for almost 30 is, and important natural resources wales, the welch environment agency, says they will be conducting a review of some of the flood defences around some of the flood defences around some of the rivers around wales after so many of them burst their banks over the weekend. one of those in particular was the river tone week in carmarthen, well, it burst its banks in many faces and it caused huge issues. and over in west wales number of votes were flooded, tens of thousands of pounds' worth of damage to those owning the boats in the seaside town. i have been here eight years, i've never seen it but a lot of the boys born and bred here, they all say they've never seen anything like it. it was the debris coming down the harbour which took the boats out, it was unbelievable, the speed of the river, the timbers that were coming down were just taking the boats out.

i know there has been a big cleanup operation, how has that been going? well, carmarthenshire council have said that they will be putting around £100,000 towards those people who have had their homes flooded that don't have insurance. i was in carmarthen yesterday, a row of houses there, all their basements com pletely houses there, all their basements completely flooded, gardens, com pletely completely flooded, gardens, completely flooded, gardens, completely flooded, unable to get insurance because they are on a flip claim. huge issues. over in neath a row of houses next door to the river neath flooded as water was coming up through the drains, due to the fact that they couldn't drain because the river was higher than the drainage system. so, people still trying to work through the devastation that has happened in their houses across communities in south wales and the first minister, carwynjones, has said that the welsh government will be pledging some money towards the cleanup operation, so the cleanup operation has begun here but it will

ta ke operation has begun here but it will take some time for these communities to get over the damage that has taken place in their communities and homes. thank you very much indeed, tomos morgan in south wales and nick owen in birmingham. and if you would like to see any more on any of those stories, you can more on any of those stories, you ca n a ccess more on any of those stories, you can access them via the iplayer. and a reminder, we go nationwide at half past four every afternoon here on afternoon live. some breaking news — a joint team of saudi and turkish officials have entered the saudi arabian leaver in istanbul, that's following the disappearance of the journalist jamal hush orgy. the turkish authorities suspect —— jamal

khashoggi. saudi arabia has strongly denied the claims but these are the pictures of thejoint denied the claims but these are the pictures of the joint team going denied the claims but these are the pictures of thejoint team going in in the last hour or so,, president trump has said that the us secretary of state mike pompeo, is travelling to riyadh to meet the king of saudi arabia to discuss the incident. our turkey correspondent has just given us turkey correspondent has just given us this update from istanbul. this is now a joint team of turks and saudis who will search the consulate, almost two weeks after the jamal khashoggi was last seen entering there. we are told the turks wanted agreement on a very comfy hamsik search of the consulate, possibly even reportedly including a chemical that would reveal bloodstains if there were any, but the saudis had initially said they would not allow that. then there was a weekend phone call between the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan and king salman in which pressure was placed on the saudis to cooperate more and then

they accepted a full, comfy hands of search and the pictures you've just seen of thisjoint search and the pictures you've just seen of this joint search team entering the consulate. what they will find we wait to hear but there we re will find we wait to hear but there were some shots earlier of a cleaning company going into the consulate before the joint investigative team arrived to. that will put some doubt on the integrity of the crime scene, certainly. and we have got more breaking news for you now, this time on brexit. the dup leader arlene foster has said her red line in the brexit talks is that the whole of the uk must leave the eu on the same terms. speaking in dublin, before a meeting with irish taioseach leo varadkar this evening, she said that the barnier proposals on the backstop were not in the best interests of the people of northern ireland. we wa nt we want to see a brexit that works for the whole —— and one which works

ina way for the whole —— and one which works in a way which does not create any barriers between northern ireland and great britain. unionism is united on that issue notjust in northern ireland but actually right across the whole of the united kingdom. we've heard comments for example from ruth davidson over the weekend, where she said it was vitally important that the whole of the uk left on the same terms, so for me, that's the red line and that's what we're here to talk about today. the michel barnier proposal has been described as offering northern ireland the best of both worlds, is that something confident about? it is not the best of both worlds, of course, and that is what the problem is. of course it would create barriers between us and great britain, of course, great britain is our largest market by far and we can't have barriers economically and of course constitutionally, we very much believe in keeping the union alive in that fashion is well. arlene foster speaking in the last few minutes. that's pretty much it from your afternoon live team for today. coming up next, it's the bbc

news at five o'clock. but first a look at the weather forecast. a reasonably fine and to the day in prospect. remnants of a weather front will continue to fizzle out in the coming hours and we are going to have quite murky story for england and wales into tuesday. here is the evening rush—hour, there's the rain that i talked of. as we keep clear spells here into the early part of tuesday, temperatures could be getting down as low as two or three. double figures elsewhere. the cloud pushing up from the south. misty and murky over the hills. initially we get clearer skies to the south of the weather front. any mist and fog should lift fairly quickly and leave some sunshine for eastern areas, always a bit more cloud further west. 13 or 14 in the north, up to 22 degrees in the south—east. today at 5, in a crucial week for the brexit talks,

the prime minister spells out the remaining obstacles to a final deal. two days ahead of a crucial eu summit, theresa may says that disagreement over the future of the irish border, should not be allowed to lead to a no—deal brexit. we cannot let this disagreement derail the prospect of a good deal and leave us with a no deal outcome that nobody wants. as ministers continue their visits to european capitals, to canvass support for a deal, labour accuses the government of presiding over a mess. almost two and a half years after the referendum, 18 months since the triggering of article 50 and less than six months to go, what have we got to show for it? we'll have the latest on the prime minister's statement, and we'll be asking if agreement is more or less likely.