this is bbc news. i'm christian fraser. the headlines at 7pm: the british prime minister arrives in brussels as the eu says it's ready to sign the brexit withdrawal agreement. the spanish prime minister says britain has given him assurances over the future of gibraltar — mrs may insists she'll always stand by the territory. the uk's position on the sovereignty of gibraltar has not changed and will not changed. i'm proud that gibraltar is british and i will a lwa ys gibraltar is british and i will always stand by gibraltar. i'm here in brussels where theresa may has met eu leaders this evening. we'll bring you live reaction from spain and gibraltar. i'm martine croxall in london — the other news this evening. in belfast, the dup renews its attack on theresa may's brexit deal, saying it could separate northern ireland from britain. french police use water cannon and tear gas against demonstrators in paris who are demanding

a cut in fuel prices. 130 protesters were detained across the country. and nicolas roeg, the director of the man who fell to earth and don't look now, has died at the age of 90. good evening from brussels, where theresa may has met eu leaders ahead of tomorrow's crucial summit where her brexit withdrawal agreement will formally signed off. the prime minister has met both the european commission president, jean claude—juncker, and the european council president donald tusk, who will host tomorrow's summit. confirmation that the summit would go ahead came after the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez received assurances from the uk government over gibraltar.

this evening, theresa may said that the uk's position on the sovereignty of gibraltar has not changed following claims she caved in to spanish demands for concessions over the future of the territory. the spaniards are claiming that has a victory. in fact, they said it is the biggest thing that has happened regarding the future of gibraltar since the signing of the treaty. the british prime minister begs to differ. let me say a word regarding the position of gibraltar. we have worked through the issues regarding gibraltar in a constructive and sensitive way and i would like to pay tribute the statesmanship of fabian picardo with which the negotiations have been led on behalf of gibraltar. we have ensured gibraltar is covered by the whole withdrawal agreement and by the implementation period and we will always negotiate on behalf of the whole uk

family including gibraltar and in the future relationship we will stand up for their interests. the uk's position on the sovereignty of gibraltar has not changed and will not change. i'm proud that gibraltar is british and i will always stand by gibraltar. you have the spanish foreign ministerclaiming the greatest diplomatic victory since the treaty of utrecht. you still have action regarding fishing and basing quotas on existing plans. is the danger in trying to please some remain voters and some leave voters disappearing down the middle? the uk's position on gibraltar has not changed and will not change. we have negotiated on behalf of gibraltar, we have ensured they are covered by the whole agreement and by the implementation period and in the future we will continue to negotiate on behalf of the whole uk family and that includes gibraltar. i'm proud that gibraltar is british. i will always stand by gibraltar.

thank you. it is worth pointing out that the spanish, if it came to a final trading relationship till sometime in the future, the spanish would hold a veto and the british have known that for some time which is why there has been up until this point a fairly proactive bilateral conversation about gibraltar. that has only changed in the course of the last week with the publication of the political declaration, which the spanish feel they have not had eyes on early enough. earlier, the spanish prime minister, who was in havana and returned to madrid today, pedro sanchez, called off his threat to boycott the summit, saying britain had given him the guarantees over the future of gibraltar that he wanted. translation: i have just told the king that spain has reached agreement on gibraltar. the first thing i want to say is that, consequently, the european council will take place tomorrow. and the second is that europe and the uk have accepted the conditions set down by spain.

because of this, spain will lift its veto and will vote tomorrow in favour of brexit. there the view of pedro sanchez in spain. we can speak now to our correspondent in madrid, james reynolds. what you think the general reaction is in spain over the assurances they have got from the british side? the government, of course, is reasonably happy, although it should be said that they have essentially achieved nothing more than a restatement of the position it always thought it had had in the brexit process. the conservative opposition here has said that the government has really missed a trick, but i think what it does for spain is that it lays down a marker. not about the withdrawal deal, but about the shape of a future trade relationship, because, remember, as i'm sure you have been explaining all day, a future trading relationship needs to be approved by

all countries in the eu. spend our wields an actual veto on that, a trade deal with not in the first instance, gibraltar and spain says it would have to have further talks about gibraltar and pedro sanchez said this. in those talks we are going to have to talk about shared sovereignty. that is a long—term spanish open and that is not something that britain will want to talk about. so, in short, james, there is nothing new here, but what it does underline is an existing vulnerability for the uk that was brought about by brexit. yes. it's not new in the fact that a future trading relationship between britain and gibraltarand trading relationship between britain and gibraltar and the rest of spain and gibraltar and the rest of spain and spain and the eu would have to be sorted out separately from the rest of trade deal. that is not new at all, but i think the emphasis on it now is important and the fact that spain says that it does want to talk about shared sovereignty in the future is something that could cause problems because beren might spain has leveraged. it can say, unless

are happy with what the agreement is on gibraltar we can veto the entire trade deal, notjust the separate portion about gibraltar. and it is worth pointing out that they are going to make political headwind with this, james, because the socialists going into a very important election in andalusia which neighbours gibraltar next week. and the socialists are a minority government at the moment, so every minority government at the moment, so every time they try to get a book to parliament, they have to cobble together a majority. there are elections, as you said, in southern spain, next to gibraltar in early december. it would be extremely unwise for any spanish by ministers to have shown any degree of weakness about rocker when such an electoral testis about rocker when such an electoral test is just days away. james reynolds in madrid. thank you very much indeed. with me is molly scott cato, green mep for the south west of england and gibraltar. welcome. what do you make of what you have heard and read today? well, as you said, there is nothing really

new year. we knew right from the start that spain did have this ability to block the future trade deal, but i think what is quite concerning is that they keep bringing that forward and today but the first time we've heard this mention of sovereignty and be sleepy people i represent an gibraltar artists like loyal to britain and they expect that loyalty in return, andi they expect that loyalty in return, and i think what we're seeing is the prime minister because she is in a wea k prime minister because she is in a weak position and in spite of rhetoric she is having to concede that she has weakened the position to bother this evening, i'm afraid. in what way? because she has changed the text. he started saying it was going to be a trade deal that worked for the whole uk family. did she say that? she has said that but she has had to backtrack and there is now a special letter that went from our permanent presented a view to make clear that actually we will not... that we accept that spain does have that power over the trade deal and i think that does demonstrate the way in which brexit, as you said, leads various communities and quiet of the —— quitea various communities and quiet of the —— quite a few of the community is that i represent left much weaker after brexit. and lots of concerns

expressed by people in gibraltar, your constituents, of course. several years ago, they voted overwhelmingly, 99% of them, rejecting calls sovereignty. yes, they very much want to stay as they are, in the uk. if you recall, when wejoined the are, in the uk. if you recall, when we joined the european are, in the uk. if you recall, when wejoined the european union, franco was in spain until they had a very favourable annex attached to an entry, now with spain being a democratic regime, it has always the unlikely that they would get such a favourable outcome and that is why they loved me think that we should move forward with the people buzzing about nine really decide whether this is best for us all to go ahead with brexit. it is the basis for the brexit elicitation, if it comes to a bilateral negotiation over gibraltar, where the difficulties be? i think what is fundamental is the territorial rights to self—determination by the gibraltar people is not under threat at all, thatis people is not under threat at all, that is fundamental and the british government must not give way on

that. gibraltar has shown loyalty for 300 years and that loyalty must be repaid. in terms of the way that the economy operates on what spain wa nts the economy operates on what spain wants out of that economy and some of the things that it wants from the airport and you will know an awful lot about that. it wants shared ownership of the airport. what might it mean in terms of what the uk side has to give? gibraltar is a touchstone in spanish domestic politics and there is always an awful lot of posturing around that. i have met the men on the town of the spanish side of the border and they really depend on job so there area they really depend on job so there are a lot of shared interests, but it worth stressing that this is the sort of trade offer brexit brings with it and i think when people voted to leave they weren't aware of that various communities would be made vulnerable and we would be giving up things as things as well as gaining things, so i think we do need to bear that in mind when we look at the deal that will be a creature tomorrow. and we should stress, gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to remain within the uk. 9696 and then things went downhill from there, from my point

of view. one of the other issues ahead of the summit tomorrow was fishing. what reassurance are you able to give to your constituents about what is being talked about when it comes to seeding access to fishing grounds in the uk?|j when it comes to seeding access to fishing grounds in the uk? i have been very straight with the fishermen in the south—west from the start, and i have said that access to watters will always be traded off against access to markets, and i'm afraid to say that there was misleading comments bit by some of the tory brexiteers to say that you can have your cake and eat it and that was never going to be the case. think again fisher people are another community who have not understood that there will always be trade—offs and they have been told that they could have everything they do not want to give anything up and fishing in the south—west is very much about catching shellfish and selling it in france and spain and it particularly needs us to stay close to the single market and to have a deal where we can have access for the exports. ok, thank you very much indeed for your thoughts. i should say a little bit about the timing is tonight and also tomorrow.

theresa may currently in a meeting with donald tusk. that will go on for a short while. we are told that they are discussing process and the next steps ahead. they will be acutely aware of the political differences that the prime minister is facing back home, bearing in mind of course those comments from arlene foster, the leader of the dup today, saying that she will vote against the withdrawal agreement because they fundamentally disagree with the backstop. but tomorrow, of course, it will proceed. they will push forward these two texts, the withdrawal agreement, which is a legally binding 585 pages, the withdrawal agreement setting out how the uk will leave the eu. separate to that, of course, the 26 pages which is non—legally binding, the political declaration which is the framework for the future relationship. there is a vote on either of those texts. this is really a case of them waving it through for the ratification process from the two parliaments, if that is to happen. it will be march when the comeback at the end of that process when they would have a say vote on

those two texts and whether they would approved at that stage, so don't expect any major hiccups tomorrow. most of the leaders have seen tomorrow. most of the leaders have seen these two texts and we expect them to be waved through by probably lunchtime tomorrow and we can expect the press conferences after that has happened. from here in brussels, i will hand you back to the studio. thank you very much, christian fraser in brussels. while arlene foster has criticised the deal,

business leaders in northern ireland have been more supportive of the proposals — and warned of the dangers of a no—deal brexit. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page has more. 0n the one hand, we are told that the backstop would be the best of both worlds, and on the other hand we are told that we will not need the backstop. on this plan to avoid a hard irish border, they are not backing down. bin the backstop. cheering and look who has become an ally. borisjohnson in belfast to lend his support. it is the dup‘s confidence and supply agreement, he said, keeping jeremy corbyn out of downing street. it is absolutely vital that we keep this partnership going, and we keep this partnership going, and we keep this confidence and supply arrangement going. and that we are not so complacent as to abandon the government of this country to a man whose avowed policy is to break up this country. if the backstop is

used, northern ireland would remain fixed to eu rules, even after the rest of the uk goes its own way. many northern ireland businesses are supporting the deal, putting them at odds with the dup, who insisted undermines the integrity of the uk. i think that's an argument that no one in the business community of northern ireland accepts. it is very seldom in northern ireland that you see unanimity about anything, but if every single business organisation is telling you something different, thenl is telling you something different, then i think the dup should take cars instance of that. —— cognizance. never before has this party been so centre stage. they have been fired up by boris, though they have the backing of the brexiteers. let's hear more about the reaction of business leaders in northern ireland from chris page. the message to the conference today

was that arlene foster did not want there to be a brexit no deal, nor did she wanted to be hardening of the border, but she says she does wa nt the border, but she says she does want a better deal. this week a coalition of business organisations in northern ireland have come out in favour of the deal. they have been over to downing street to meet with the prime minister. i am joined by roger pollen from the federation of small businesses. have you heard anything from dup members are from arlene foster that has persuaded you that this draft a brexit deal might not be such a good idea? we have heard a lot of reasons why the party feels it is not such a good idea. the business organisations are really looking at what is in front of them and are looking at a binary choice between an ordeal option or the agreement that has been brought forward by the government, but certainly we have heard a lot of talk about other deal might still be amended and improved. we are looking from the point of your business and the economy and whether any improvements come forward that would actually sisters and enhance the situation we are dealing with. so if this deal does go before the house

of commons that it is defeated, the dup have made it clear that at the moment they are very much planning on voting against it, in your view how big a problem with that be? that would then add to the uncertainty because then we would be looking at not knowing what the future brings. as things stand, but the government is proposing to some degree of clarity. if that fails to get through the house of commons, then we're back to an uncertain situation. the dup will be trying to bring forward amendments to that agreement and we don't know in what way those would be received by the eu. do thing that could be any chance for a renegotiation down the line ina chance for a renegotiation down the line in a few weeks? that is beyond oui’ line in a few weeks? that is beyond our remit. we are trying to represent what business things about the options that ignores her in front of it. if politics etc there are changes to the agreements or there are attempts to change agreement, then we will have to assess what facts we know at this stage but at this point it would be just speculation. so if there wasn't a brexit deal at all, what would it potentially mean for business in northern ireland, what would your concerns because yellow our members have been very clear that if there was no deal on brexit, and

unplanned, uncoordinated exit from the eu, that would be very damaging because of all the uncertainty that arises around that and does the inability to deal in the way that we have been to date, so they are very clear they do want to know how they are going to progress forward and they want to know that as soon as possible. 0k, they want to know that as soon as possible. ok, thanks very much indeed for sharing your thoughts with us. the dup, who are the party who sustain the government in key votes, say they are not for changing. the chancellor philip hammond was here last night trying to make the case for the current brexit proposals. boris johnson, to make the case for the current brexit proposals. borisjohnson, the leading brexiteer, received a much more enthusiastic reception when he took at the conference today. one way or another, the dup will be determined to maximise their influence on the critical coming weeks ahead. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me

tonight are john rentoul, who's chief political commentator at the independent, and benedicte paviot, who's uk correspondent for france 2a, and president of the foreign press association. the headlines on bbc news: theresa may has arrived in brussels, ahead of tomorrow's summit to approve her brexit deal. the spanish prime minister says britain has given him assurances over the future of gibraltar. french police use water cannon and tear gas against demonstrators in paris who are demanding a cut in fuel prices. film director nicolas roeg, whose credits include don't look now, and the man who fell to earth, has died at the age of 90. police in paris have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters demonstrating for a second weekend running against a planned rise in fuel tax. clashes broke out on the champs—elysees, as demonstrators tried to get through a security cordon protecting key buildings. there were 42 arrests in the capital and around 90 across the rest of france. over the past year, the price of diesel, which is used in most french cars,

has risen by around 23%. here's our paris correspondent, lucy williamson. a reminderfor france's present — sparks can quickly become flames. the champs elysees was not a tourist site today, but an unofficial battleground. protesters armed with paving stones pushed back by tear gas, water cannons and riot police. this movement is about more than fuel prices, its supporters are tired of taxes and tired of politicians. their slogans threatening revolution. the french authorities, a joke to some. translation: we have to pay rent, food, insurance. there's nothing left at the end of the month. i don't want macron to just cut taxes, i want him to resign. why is it always the little taxpayer who has to pay? we've been tightening our belts for 30 years and it can't get any

tighter or we're going to explode. the government banned the protestors from this street today, pointing them to the eiffel tower. far right leader marine le pen questioned why. the government says she is encouraging dissent. we are using water cannons and tear gas and pushing back the assailants. the ultra—right have mobilised and answered marine le pen's call, they want to attack institutions and government. the government said no protests on this street and look what happens. they say ultra—right elements are responsible for the violence here, but many ordinary people say they also support this movement. this has brought together people from all political backgrounds, all parts of france, but it is a movement with no national leader, no formal structure, its membership and its identity hard to control. a man has died after being

stabbed in east london. police have launched a murder investigation following the attack in hackney early this morning. detectives are also questioning a man after an officer was stabbed outside ilford train station in east london last night. the officer's injuries are not thought to be life—threatening. the national crime agency has issued a warning to organised gangs, which it says are behind a recent spike in illegal attempts to cross the english channel. this morning, the french authorities picked up five migrants from a small boat just off the coast southwest of calais. on friday, eight iranians were brought ashore after their dinghy was spotted off the coast of kent. it brings the total number of suspected migrants to have reached the uk this month to 101. 0ur reporter keith doyle has more. these men were found in a dinghy by a border force patrol boat in the channel yesterday. the eight men, who say they are iranian, were taken into custody and interviewed by immigration officers. the day before, 1a people were found

in two dinghies in the channel. french authorities found another 11 suspected migrants on the same day. there has been a huge rise in the number of people trying to cross the channel in small boats. in the past month, 101 suspected migrants have been found, including nine people found on rocks at folkestone. three boats with 2a suspected migrants, including a toddler, were picked up off ramsgate. and seven men were rescued from a dinghy after making a distress call. we need to see the home office and french authorities work together to put a stop to this trafficking network. nearly 100 refugees have been coming across the channel in recent weeks. it's only a matter of time before there's a tragedy, and that's why the home office in particular needs to get a grip and have a plan. the national crime agency says organised crime groups are using these small craft to traffic people, but they're working with the french authorities to stop them.

this week, two men were jailed for eight years for smuggling people across the channel. this is one of the inflatable boats they used. most people smuggling takes place at ports, but increased security there, and the calm weather, may be making more people risk their lives by trying to cross the channel in small, unsuitable craft. a little earlier my colleague shaun ley spoke to chris hogben, the national crime agency's 0perational lead for tackling people smuggling. he told him that there has been a significant rise in the number of migrants in recent weeks trying to make it to our shores. i don't want to get tied into numbers of individuals who are migrants. iam numbers of individuals who are migrants. i am always ready to tackle the crime groups who are behind this. you're right, we have seen a behind this. you're right, we have seen a real spike in the numbers of attem pts seen a real spike in the numbers of attempts across the channel by small boats and grips involving all monks

exclusively iranians migrants since the beginning of october. we are now working with a uk law enforcement collea g u es working with a uk law enforcement colleagues and also with the french law enforcement to try to identify the crime groups behind it and of course to bring them to justice, ultimately stopping the attempts. i would say that this is nothing new. we have seen attempts using small boats on and off over the last two 01’ boats on and off over the last two or three years. what has really changed is the intensity in terms of the numbers. we have seen a real spike in this since the beginning of 0ctober. spike in this since the beginning of october. is that spike likely to reduce again because of the weather conditions? if nothing else changes, at least? this week we have generally seem fairly calm weather, which obviously makes it easier, i guess, for people to try these attempts. what i would say is this isa attempts. what i would say is this is a really dangerous method of trying to enter the uk. 0ne is a really dangerous method of trying to enter the uk. one of the downsides to a certain extent some

might say with the tightened security around the uk border is the fa ct security around the uk border is the fact that it makes the criminals and the migrants far more desperate, if you like, in terms of the measures that they will go to to try to beat that they will go to to try to beat that security, and one of the things that security, and one of the things that we see is the increase in this type of activity. now, we're talking about people using small boats to ci’oss about people using small boats to cross the english channel, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. invariably at night, invariably with a helmsman who has very little if any experience, and of course we are also talking about small boats that we would probably classed as overloaded and almost every occasion the migrants themselves don't have any form of safety equipment, so we're talking about a very dangerous method, and when you look upstream at the mediterranean region, the central mediterranean region, the central mediterranean and the eastern and western brits, we have seen a number of tragedies over the last few years

we re of tragedies over the last few years were people have lost their lives there and it is probably very fortu nate there and it is probably very fortunate indeed that we haven't seen fortunate indeed that we haven't seen that sort of thing back in the english channel. the english director nicolas roeg has died aged 90. his best known films include don't look now and the man who fell to earth, which starred david bowie. nick higham looks back at his life. julie christie and donald sutherland in nic roeg's masterpiece, don't look now. it was sumptuous and eerie. as in all his films, the images by turns hooked you, hypnotised you and unsettled you. he was a cameraman before becoming a director. here he is on the set of fahrenheit 451, starring julie christie

for the french director francois truffaud. he was the director of photography on doctor zhivago, but fell out with the director david lean, who sacked him. his replacement won an oscar for work that was partly roeg's. this adaptation of far from the madding crowd was also all his own work, and also won awards. why don't you go to a hotel? his first film as director was performance starring mickjagger as a rock star and james fox is a gangster. it included graphic scenes of violence, sex and drug—taking. # you always working perfectly, but there's a part # that's not screwed on.#

we want to drink. i cannot make it any simpler. water. he followed it with walkabout, about two white children lost in the australian desert. it starred his own son, luke. water! glug glug glug! i don't understand how you can watch them all at the same time. you are really a freak. i don't mean that unkindly. the man who fell to earth featured another rock star, david bowie, in a sprawling and sometimes hallucinogenic work of science fiction. i really like you. the trouble is, people get too attached to each other. bad timing, a psychological thriller featured multiple flashbacks, and starred art garfunkel and teresa russell. roeg later married her. his version of the witches

by roald dahl brought his work to a new generation of children. he made films which were unpredictable and made producers and distributors uncomfortable. he could be driven. on one film, the crew threatened to walk out when he filmed for 2h hours nonstop. but no other british director could match nic roeg's visual imagination or his skill at wrongfooting, bewildering, and delighting audiences.