this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 12.00pm. the work and pensions secretary calls for a cross—party consensus to find a way forward on brexit as the foreign secretary says it's still possible to get a version of the prime minister's deal through parliament. crucial talks to tackle global warming continue through the night as officials from 200 countries struggle to agree a deal. a warning of freezing rain, ice and snow in parts of the uk, as storm deirdre hits on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. this is the scene live in paris where anti—government protesters are out on the streets again — despite concessions from president macron. campaigners urge the government to stop plans to issue prison officers with pepper spray to help tackle violence in jails. and how virtual reality is helping to tell schoolchildren the story of the suffragettes 100 years after women were first able to vote in a general election. that's in click, in half an hour.

the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has insisted it's still possible to get what he called "a version" of theresa may's brexit deal through parliament. his comments came after the home secretary, amber rudd, called for politicians to forge a cross party consensus on a solution to the impasse. writing in the daily mail, she says... our political correspondent tom barton told me that amber rudd's comments in the daily mail

essentially acknowledge the unworkability of may's deal. it is looking almost impossible to get really any version of her deal through parliament, saying brexit is in danger of getting stuck. although she continues that she publicly backs the prime minister's deal, she also says that essentially the government needs to be reaching out across the party divide to try to find a solution parliament can accept. trying to build a consensus. what she is essentially saying is, you know, there is no majority in parliament for what is on the table and so the government needs to start talking to all groups in parliament to see where they can find a deal that parliament will back. we will hear from the foreign secretary in a moment who has also been out in the media butjust to pin this down a bit, she is saying then that she backs theresa may's deal but acknowledges it will be hard if not

impossible to get the deal through, therefore there through, therefore there may be other votes and options. is she speaking on behalf of the prime minister? are we clear about what the message is coming out from government? honestly, no. i understand that number 10 was aware of the broad content of her article before it was published in the daily mail. what i haven't been told is whether number 10 signed it off and whether they were happy with what she was saying. that analysis in the article that this is looking impossible, well, there is disagreement over that today because we have heard foreign secretaryjeremy hunt saying today that in his view it will be possible to get a version of the prime minister's deal through the commons. let's be clear, the deal on the table is what we have

but the thing that the house of commons will not accept is any risk of us being permanently trapped through the northern ireland backstop in the customs union and despite all the difficulties of this week the reason i think it is possible to get this deal through with those guarantees that we need on the backstop. jeremy hunt was also clear that he wanted to put pressure on the european union, saying that there is still a realistic prospect that parliament won't stop no deal, and he says that is something we uk government doesn't want but he says neither do european leaders. let's speak to journalist and conservative commentator tim montgomerie. this has been an extraordinary week. everybody accepts that everyday. everyday has been different. but

when you look forward and hear those contrasting views, i won't say they are contradictory but they are contrasting between amber red and jeremy hunt, what is your take? —— amber rudd. what we're seeing is the cabinet asserting itself. the constructive and sometimes destructive relationship between her party backbenchers asserting themselves. they are trying to force her out tory leadership but now they can't challenge her really in any significant way for a year so the cabinet now has the opportunity and the duty to actually force theresa out of her comfort zone and perhaps force a little bit more realism about whether she can actually get the changes needed with her own withdrawal agreement to get it past.

is that possible, when we know the cabinet has very different views? that is the problem. you have a cabinet with very different views stop it isn't even clear to me that amber rudd's intervention in the daily mail, was that something downing street wanted her to do, to start opening up the possibility of alternative plans? we are told there is an alternative. building with mps from other parties. 0r building with mps from other parties. or was this a freelance operation that downing street has had to tolerate? i don't know which of those it is. amber rudd was making noises during europe brief period outside the cabinets, talking openly about a second referendum, backing the norway plan. here we have one of the most senior cabinet ministers taking a position now she is back in government. very different from liam fox, the trade

secretary, who is closer to wanting a managed new deal brexit. and said openly that it might be that the cabinet would allow this to go through a second time. whether liam fox says the cabinet won't allow it, who is he speaking for? he is not speaking for chancellor philip hammond who this week has described those people who wa nt week has described those people who want a managed no deal as extremists. you are old enough, as i am, to remember the last time the party had a collective nervous breakdown over europe... there have been a couple. and other parties have had crises over the yea rs. parties have had crises over the years. somehow split over it. and some have talked about the conservative party splitting up. when you look at the rhetoric and some of the open contempt shown by different conservatives for each other, does that now look possible? the contempt, i think you are right tojoke about

the contempt, i think you are right to joke about how personal it has become. it has gone way past ideology and there are some pretty horrible examples of the way conservatives 110w horrible examples of the way conservatives now talk towards each other. i don't think a split is on the cards yet. i think the thing that would do it would be a second referendum. if you look at the polling of the population at large, you see the public is fairly divided about a second referendum. but tory members and tory voters, it is a 4—1 against a referendum. that would be pouring petrol on the fire. i think if you wanted to set up a new political party, a sense of betrayal on the issue so fundamental to years of getting to this point by the conservative party, having a referendum, saying it would be honoured and then failing to implement it... amber rudd says she will be accused of betrayal when she talks about

reaching out to another party. is that not a sensible view when it comes to another referendum or other options? if there is no majority for the prime minister's deal, if the dup doesn't support it, that deal is probably dead. if the party can't agree on it then you have to reach out. you do. one of the reasons i've upset a lot of fans of brexit by backing the deal is that my fear is this is going to be the best kind of brexit that any of us can hope for, and what will happen, inevitably, something has to get past the house of commons. i don't think it will allow a no deal. so the norway or other options are a more diluted form of brexit than theresa may party—mack, form of brexit than theresa may pa rty—mack, and that form of brexit than theresa may party—mack, and that is what i think my fellow brexiteers are risking. well, it will be interesting to see

how this works out. i'm sure we will talk again. tim montgomery, thank you very much. negotiations at a climate change conference in poland have continued through the night, with nearly 200 nations trying to agree on how best to tackle rising temperatures around the world. progress has been made, but there are problems over the question of compensating poorer countries for the damage caused by global warming. 0ur environment correspondent matt mcgrath reports from katowice. agreement is continuing to prove elusive in katowice. negotiators worked through the night and into the early morning. the meeting was meant to be held at 10am but that deadline has come and gone and no new text has been prepared and the plenary session that will decide the final outcome of this meeting has not yet been called. there are some sticky issues that are holding things up — one, we understand, to be a dispute over carbon market mechanisms. these are situations where countries want to, say, plant a forest in another country and the question is who gets the carbon credits for that particular effort?

there have been schemes over the years that have tried to trade carbon credits between countries and they have been subject to fraud and corruption. that issue may be kicked forward to next year, so that might make the possibility of an agreement here more easily reachable. there are many other issues as well. one of the problems is that too many issues have been sent to ministers who have come here from all over the world to try and agree, so the likelihood is that most of those decisions will be made here, some will be kicked forward, and the hope from all the delegates here is agreement will be reached in the next few hours. a man from newcastle is due to appear before wesminster magistrates' court today, charged with engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism. well, our reporterjohn mcmanus is at the court and can tell us more. this afternoon, john. yes. 33—year—old mohammed

al—abdullah appeared behind me to a nswer al—abdullah appeared behind me to answer the charge. he spoke very little except to confirm his age of 33, the fact that he was originally from iran and he currently lives in newcastle. he denies the charges but the prosecution told the magistrate that there was evidence that he had purchased a knife, a balaclava and explosive precursors, and also there had been evidence he had been searching the internet for explosives guide and other components such as a pressure cooker and nails. he said very little but he did confirm he was refusing legal representation at the court today. we also heard he hadn't had any

representation during any of his interviews with police officers. the court has heard now that he has been remanded in custody and his application for bail was refused and he will be trialled on the 14th of january at the old bailey. thank you. campaigners are urging the government to stop plans to issue prison officers with a synthetic pepper spray to help tackle violence in jails. the prison reform trust says that during trials the spray — known as pava — was used unsafely and inappropriately. but the prison service says lessons have been learnt form the pilot and there'll be clear rules on how the sprays should be used. there's a warning that freezing rain will bring treacherous conditions to parts of the uk this weekend, as storm deirdre hits on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. the met office has issued amber warnings for some areas. it could go either way. if the freezing rain

comes off and because we have this amber warning in force, it will cause widespread disruption across parts of central and northern england and into scotland and equally we have the warning out for destructive snow across scotland across scotland as well with storm deirdre establishing itself. it is stuck over us? yes, and we have had various little weather fronts trying to come in and get the mild air in. it is a typical winter set up, but they haven't got enough momentum. storm deirdre has enough momentum to clear it. the storm is giving us the potential for disruption. these are the areas where we are expecting the freezing rain. not necessarily where it will be contained to but there are yellow warnings out, lesser warnings, elsewhere. heavy rain and strong wind already and normally we would

be calling that severe weather but this is a step up again. a huge chunk of northern england and large parts of scotland as well. and down into central england as well. a busy day, hitting through this afternoon and this evening when people are out. i will tell you a little bit of the dynamics of freezing rain. you have this snow in the upper atmosphere and sometimes you have a warmer layer of air and the snow will melt and become a rain droplet but it doesn't have time to turn back into snow so when it comes into the freezing layer right near the surface, the temperature will drop just below freezing so it is supercooled. when the droplet hits the ground, it happens so quickly that you can be driving along, the rain starts and suddenly the road becomes impassable. it turns into an ice rink in a matter of minutes. absolutely. and it is very finely balanced. we don't get it very often

because the atmosphere is so finely balanced. those are the things we are concerned about and how difficult it is to put the detail on but it is not looking great out there today. use your naws. if you are driving or walking, be very careful. they have just tweaked the warnings to bring the snow risk down to southern scotland. it will be a good night to stay in to watch strictly. i will be watching with my girls. tomorrow doesn't look as extreme. it will be cool tonight but by tomorrow the storm has blown out to the north sea and it should be relatively quiet. lots of showers around but the winds will ease, the snow should have fallen and the ice risk should have disappeared. don't forget you can check the bbc

weather pages, and we have half hourly updates throughout the weekend on this channel. thousands of police are out again in force in france, as protesters gather for a fifth consecutive weekend of protests. last weekend in paris, shops were looted and cars were set alight in the unrest which was sparked by rises in fuel taxes, but grew into wider protests against president macron‘s administration. he's announced reforms he hopes will meet the demonstrators' demands. 0ur correspondent hugh schofield is in paris. we spoke a couple of hours ago and it was relatively quiet. has much changed within paris and at other protests around the country? in paris, not really. they are talking now about 4000 protesters in the centre of paris. nothing, really. don't forget, last week they we re really. don't forget, last week they were not that many more. about 8000 last week. that proved to be an occasion at which there was potential for havoc, and there was

havoc. even though the numbers are clearly down this saturday, one shouldn't write it off as a success for the police until a bit later in the day. around the country, there are the day. around the country, there a re protests in the day. around the country, there are protests in marseille. no trouble i am aware of. in calais, they have blocked the access road to they have blocked the access road to the port but i suspect that has been moved on by riot police. in general i would say that the government is looking on with cautious satisfaction that there is a downward trend in the movement, particularly for saturday because the saturday protest is continuing. around the country all the time in the week, there are these roundabout process at roundabouts —— roundabout protests. they have a presence across the country and to keep up the general momentum of their movement which they believe in many cases should go further. thank you.

the headlines on bbc news. the work and pensions secretary calls for a cross—party consensus to find a way forward on brexit as the foreign secretary says it's still possible to get a version of the prime minister's deal through parliament. un climate talks are extended after continuing through the night as officials from 200 countries struggle to agree a deal. a warning of freezing rain, ice and snow in parts of the uk, as storm deirdre hits on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. after three months of show—stopping routines, sequins and spray tans, tonight sees the final of this year's strictly come dancing. but which of the four finalists will waltz their way to victory? 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba has been to meet them. tonight's four celebrities taking to the dance floor. so, how are they feeling ahead of the final?

excited. prepared. excited. they will be performing three routines, a show dance, a favourite and one picked by thejudges. for stacey and kevin, it will be their leaderboard topping foxtrot from week four. journalist and documentary maker stacey says she is thankful to have got this far. i suppose the overriding emotion is, this sounds really cheesy, but sort of gratitude. you are so delighted to still be involved in the competition and it has just been amazing. it has not been particularly poignant or gut wrenching, it has just been an amazing celebration. forjoe and dianne, thejudges have picked their paso doble. youtube starjoe says the public response has been amazing.

i struggle with most dances on the show because i do not pick things up very quickly, so each week has been a new struggle, but it is that support, it is those messages of support, the videos that are sent in, videos of the youngsters trying to copy your dances and redo your routines from the week before, that is what it is all about and that is what gets you through the week. for ashley and pasha, the judges' pick is their salsa. some viewers have said the pop star's background has given her an advantage. ashley is not so sure. i did have dance when i was younger, it was a completely different style and it has been over 20 years since i trained, so listen, i absolutely love that i got asked to be here, and i am so grateful i have gotten to learn latin and ballroom, and it

has been an amazing experience. the judges have selected their viennese waltz for faye and giovanni. the former steps singer has also, of course, danced in the past. with every strictly series there has always been a mix of abilities, absolutely, but it is an entertainment show at the end of the day, and i think it has been really lovely to see everybody's individual journey, and it has been amazing to be part of a brilliant series. this evening, all the finalists will be hoping for this kind of reaction from the judges, and more importantly, the public, because it is they who will be deciding who will lift this year's glitterball trophy. here are some pictures just coming

into us on bbc news of a fire ongoing at chester zoo. there are no details yet as to what has happened. a lot of smoke. no idea about the extent of the fire within the zoo, but we will get more on the story in the course of the coming our here on bbc news. we will try to bring you more about it in the next section. a fire at chester zoo which has broken out this morning, and more on that as we get it. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts the potential for some widespread disruption because of the severe weather. as the rain comes into the cold air, the met office have amber warnings for ice and snow and widespread freezing rain is very

unusual here in the uk. the risk is there from the midlands northwards as we get through the rest of the day, up into the central lowlands of scotland. another amber warning out from the met office come this time for us know. hence the risk of some widespread disruption and the potential for it, with a potentially dangerous conditions. this is the storm, storm force winds around the coasts and some of the hills for a time. as the day progresses, the rain turned heavy and it could turn into freezing rain across central and northern areas as we have discussed. significant snow, coupled with those winds, it could be blizzard conditions. some snowjust temporarily as well, blowing, the wind will be blowing so strong it will feel very cold indeed. some snow for parts of england but as i say the risk of widespread black ice as the rain falls on frozen surfaces and almost instantaneously causes

ice rink conditions, very slippery indeed. wet and windy from northern ireland and wintry for scotland. you will probably get 40 centimetres over the hills. the storm is bringing a change to milder weather but in the interim we are seeing that transition with very nasty winter weather around. almost all oui’ severe weather winter weather around. almost all our severe weather happening in one day. we don't often get a day like this. we'll keep you updated, and the details are on the website. it continues to grow a gale as the storm moves into the north sea. cold overnight, cold enough for things to freeze and actively by the time we get to sunday, it looks quieter. we will see the easing winds, a scattering of sunny spells and showers, though there will be some hefty showers. the rain today could bring local flooding in hefty showers. the rain today could bring localflooding in areas. the warnings are on the website. hello this is bbc news. the headlines:

the work and pensions secretary calls for a cross—party consensus to find a way forward on brexit, as the foreign secretary says it's still possible to get a version of the prime minister's deal through parliament. un climate talks in poland are extended after continuing through the night as countries try to agree the way forward for the paris agreement. a warning of freezing rain, ice and snow in parts of the uk, as storm deirdre hits on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. this is the scene live in paris, where protesters have taken to the streets for a fifth weekend of anti—government demonstrations, despite a series of concessions from president macron. a large fire appears to have broken out at chester zoo — with reports that visitors to the attraction have been evacauated. sport now and a full round—up

from the bbc sport centre. manchester city will move to the top of the premier league if they win today. sergio aguero starts on the bench after four weeks out with a groin injury. everton are a bit of a bogey team for manchester city, having won just two of the last seven games against the toffees. england's men are right of the hockey world cup in india. they were hoping to make their first final since 1986, but belgium were much too strong. they won 6—0 in the end.

england will play for third place against either australia or ireland. could the use of the whitby band and horse racing. we understand senior figures are preparing for that possibility, with tougher penalties in big race is likely to be put into improve the image of horse racing. this could be a talking point over the festive meetings. a new penalty structure for producing the whip next month, no suggestions of any mischief of the whip from bangor on the yesterday. the professionals... racing insiders say that not an air don't hurt the horses, but they concede there is a question about how they are perceived. justin rose finished the day one

over par, ending up on nine under par. inside where he needs to be. for british spy) with the chance of winning £50,000 each if they can win gold medals tomorrow at the tae kwon do world grand slam in china. double 0lympic do world grand slam in china. double olympic champion jade jones was do world grand slam in china. double 0lympic championjadejones was the first to make it through into her final. all the action is being streamed live on the bbc sport website and on the red button. in boxing, the british super middleweight rocky fielding has made the wii ahead his fight against saul