this is bbc news, i'm rachel schofield. the headlines at 8pm: the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, says it's time to build a cross—party consensus on brexit, as the church of england calls for national reconciliation. an investigation is under way after a woman and her eight—year—old daughter died in a house fire in nottinghamshire. over 60,000 protestors take to the streets in france, clashing with police, in a fifth weekend of anti—government demonstrations. staff are ‘working hard' to track down all the animals after a fire at chester zoo. and coming up, a special programme looking back at the commemorations throughout the year of the armistice centenary. that's at 8.30pm on bbc news. good evening.

the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has appealed to mps across the political divide to "forge a consensus" over brexit, acknowledging that the prime minister's deal for leaving the european union, might not be approved by parliament. her comments in a newspaper, follow another difficult eu summit for theresa may, in which she failed to win concessions that might have made her withdrawal deal acceptable to mps. the church of england has urged the country to debate brexit with more grace and generosity, saying it's time for national reconciliation. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. parliament stares at gridlock. cobbling together a majority to endorse anything looks incredibly difficult, and downing street has studiously avoided any public discussion of a plan b, what happens if, when, the prime minister's plan is rejected. but writing in the daily mail, amber rudd says that brexit is in danger of getting stuck

and while supporting theresa may's deal, advocates assembling a coalition, potentially reaching out to opposition parties, to avoid what she calls the rocks of no deal. amber rudd proposes in her article a series of commons votes to test support for a range of different outcomes but around theresa may's cabinet table are open disagreements about what plan b should or should not look like. and others continue to make the case for plan a, or at least plan a with tweaks not yet secured. is very tempting after a week like we have had which has not been a good week, to try and reach for other radical solutions, but i still think if you look at all of this, when the dust is settled, the only way that we are going to get through the house of commons and to give the british people the brexit they voted for, is to have a version of the deal that the government has negotiated.

0ne former minister who resigned last month to call for another referendum says the government should get a move on and let mps have their say. i have absolutely no doubt that if the vote is deferred again when we come back on monday, that very serious conversations will be had by members of the cabinet and members of parliament asking, well, what is the strategy? it's simply not acceptable to run out the clock and face the country with the prospect of being timed out. the country has arrived at a moment of extraordinary jeopardy, with no one in sole control of events and no one who knows precisely what will happen next. chris mason, bbc news. earlier we heard from sir anthony seldon, a political commentator and author, who is also vice chancellor at the university of buckingham. he says a compromise is possible but none of the options are easy. there has to be some form of compromise at the end of the day.

there could be a second referendum but that's going to badly alienate all the brexit supporters. there could be in ordeal exit but that's going to severely aggravate the demeanours. almost half of whom voted for remain in the referendum. i think it's most likely there will be some form of compromise in the middle. either on these may‘s plan, however unlikely that may seem at the moment given what europe is saying about it and given what elements of the cabinet are saying about it, plus the conservative party, or it could be there is a norway style compromise. but i think thatis norway style compromise. but i think that is where we are likely to land. 0r there could be a delay to leaving the eu, but how much longer will that go on? the longer the delay the bigger the negative impact on the economy with all the uncertainty so

i think the country overalljust thanks we need to come out with some solution or other. that the greatest number can get behind. we have heard from another cabinet minister today, amber rudd, the time comes for a cross— party amber rudd, the time comes for a cross—party consensus i'm calling on the prime minister to reach out and look to like—minded people in the labour party and so on, how realistic an option is that? well, it's difficult isn't it? because if mp's were truly thinking in the national interest they would be thinking and voting differently. but labour have one overriding objection which is to have a general election, nothing wrong with that, that's what opposition parties do, they want to form the government. i'm not naturally is more important for them than trying to find a middle way. yet at the end of the day we have

somehow to resolve this. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30pm this evening in the papers — our guests joining rachel schofield tonight are the sun's chief sports reporter martin lipton and playwright and broadcaster bonnie greer. over 60,000 so—called yellow vest protesters took to the streets across france in the fifth weekend of demonstrations against president macron‘s government. police in paris fired tear gas and made a number of arrests but there was no repeat of the violence of previous weekends. the number of people taking part dropped by around 50%. lucy williamson reports from paris. the tactics were the same as always but the tension here has waned. the number of protesters in paris today less than half of that of last weekend. there were far fewer people gathering here in paris today but there are still a few confrontations between protesters and police, like here on the champs—elysees. the security forces will be hoping this is the last final

stand of the hard—core. this was a test of whether president macron‘s concessions this week have worked. 10 billion euros to help those on the lowest incomes. not enough for some. translation: the president is offering us peanuts. we are not monkeys he can throw nuts at. we are human beings. the violence of previous demonstrations in paris along with the government's concessions and the impact of a terrorist attack in strasbourg this week have all helped to dissuade protesters. but protest sites around the country are settling in for christmas and it is notjust the troublemakers left behind. at this tollgate 45 minutes outside marseille, the demands are no longerjust economic, they are also about democracy and access to power. translation: we want a second french revolution. we are going to show all of europe that the people do have power. president macron said long—term solutions to this crisis lie

at the local level and that he wants to meet mayors, region by region, to hear their concerns. translation: president macron has ignored us from the moment he came to power. and now all of a sudden he wants us to come to his rescue. can i be honest with you? the idea of a national consultation is absolute rubbish. everything will carry onjust like before. the clashes here seem to be losing momentum, but the frustration that sparked them has not been resolved. there is a part of france that feels precarious and invisible. for the past few weeks it was visible to all. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. a little earlier this evening i spoke to benjamin amar in paris — he is one of the leaders of one of france's biggest trade unions — the cgt — a body which has been organising demonstrations alongside the so—called yellow vest protestors and i asked him what they want

from the macron government. like the yellow vests we demand social justice and like the yellow vests we demand socialjustice and wealth distribution. and one of the people you just interviewed said the amount from president macron was peanuts and it's true, it's peanuts. we require, we demand a true increase of the wage, a true increase of wages and retirement. we demand also that president macron re—establish the wealth tax and all this is a lot of demand that president macron did not explain in his former announcement. are you confident see

further change offered by the french government? we, you know, we think president macron is the servant of the employers, at the point where any president before him, we never see that before. and we think that only the protest and the demonstration can convince him to abandon this policy of being the servant of the employers. so, we noticed that president macron, he's ina very noticed that president macron, he's in a very bad situation after five weeks of demonstrations and protests. but what he announced was, was not enough at all. we think that we have to struggle again and again

with passing the blockade of the highway to the blockade of the economy, of the company, of the society. this is the only way to obtain what we demand. when it comes to the tactics that have been used by demonstrators, how do you feel about the violence and the looting which has been seen in some areas? you know, my union is a very old union. we exist since more than one century. and in our demonstration we have also anarchists who organised violence during our demonstration. we have got a security system with my comrades who struggle against these anarchists. so we know that,

this is not a new situation. so these anarchists, in france we call them black block. this black block was a separate problem. the yellow vests are was a separate problem. the yellow vests a re not was a separate problem. the yellow vests are not practising violence. but you know, i am also a teacher and in france nowadays a lot of high school in france are in a movement, are organised in a movement against the policy of president macron and asa the policy of president macron and as a teacher i can see, this week, a lot of violence ordered by the government of violence of the policeman, and it was a disaster. it was awful. so the union demands that all this violence, the violence of the anarchist but also the violence of the government, stop immediately.

but this is not a new thing, this is not a new situation and we have to remember that the question of the security is the problem of the government, is the problem of the minister. a mother and her eight—year—old daughter have died in a house fire at collingham in nottinghamshire. our reporterjake zuckerman sent this update. well the firefighters were called here at about seven o'clock in the morning by neighbours who'd spotted a fire morning by neighbours who'd spotted afire in morning by neighbours who'd spotted a fire in the conservatory of the house and they told me they had tried to break into the house to break down the door and rescue the people but unfortunately they were unable to. when firefighters arrived at the did take five people from the house, or believed to be from the same family. i34—year—old man anticipated old son are both still in hospital with serious injuries

and as you see i33—year—old woman and as you see i33—year—old woman and her eight—year—old have sadly died asa and her eight—year—old have sadly died as a result of this house fire. another occupant of the house, a 53—year—old woman, was laid to safety a nd 53—year—old woman, was laid to safety and was looked after at the scene. at the moment police and fire officers are still here, they are examining the scene of this fire in an attempt to discover how it started in the first place. the road here is cordoned off and police say it's likely to remained cordoned off until tomorrow while those investigations are continuing. the headlines on bbc news. the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, says it's time to build a cross—party consensus on brexit, as the church of england calls for national reconciliation. an investigation is under way after a woman and her eight—year—old daughter died in a house fire in nottinghamshire. over 60,000 protestors take to the streets in france,

clashing with police, in a fifth weekend of anti—government demonstrations. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jeanette. manchester city are back on top of the premier league until tomorrow evening at least, they beat everton 3-1, evening at least, they beat everton 3—1, jesus scoring the first two, everton 3—1, jesus scoring the first two, eve rto n got 3—1, jesus scoring the first two, everton got one back but raheem sterling sealed the victory a week after suffering a wagered racist abuse at chelsea. the question is not important to me, dropping points at sta mford not important to me, dropping points at stamford bridge, we won again, after the champions league, you have just two days more, at less than three days, the people respond in a marvellous way. tottenham stayed in touch of the top two after sneaking

a late win against burnley, christian eriksen scored the only goal in injury time at wembley, the substitute finding the breakthrough after it looked like burnley were going to hold on for a draw. that character, always pushing until the end, that shows great beliefs and faith in the way we play and try and that i think it is pleasing most. you can win, you can lose, football is like this but you need to accept we are trying and playing that we are playing, i think it always is possible to achieve all that you want. fulham are still firmly rooted to the bottom of the table, they lost again, this time 2—0 to inform west ham in the late kick off, robert snodgrass with the forest before antonio found himself one—on—one with the keeper, fulham still looking for their first clean

sheet of the season. a quick look at all of today's results. crystal palace with a real victory without wilfried zaha, palace with a real victory without wilfried za ha, beating palace with a real victory without wilfried zaha, beating leicester 1-0. just three games in the scottish premiership today. kilmarnock back on top of the table after e3— one victory over dundee, aberdeen 2—1 winners at st mirren and motherwell also won 2—1 at stjohnstone. celtic and rangers play tomorrow. saracens maintained their 100% record in this yea rs maintained their 100% record in this years european champions cup beating cardiff 26—14 and ending the welsh teams hopes of reaching the knockout stages. confirmation of the decent scores. one final kicking 16 of saracens points, glasgow could still make the last eight, they are second in the pool after a bonus point win over lyon but wasps are out.

lei nster over lyon but wasps are out. leinster claimed a bonus point victory over bath prevailing 112—15 in their match at the aviva cvm, lei nster in their match at the aviva cvm, leinster with the bonus point try, four and the first half. johnny sexton with five successful conversion as leinster narrowed the gap on leaders toulouse to two points. munster fell to a 13—12 defeat against french side castro is in the champions cup match, it might be defeat but they gain a losing bonus point so stay top of the pool. the final day of the track cycling world cup in london, britain's main winning the silver medal in the madison 30 kilometres final as a youthful team took ten points for the final sprint for great britain finishing with 30 points overall in second place behind denmark. england

men are out of the hockey world cup in india. they were hoping to make their first in india. they were hoping to make theirfirst final since in india. they were hoping to make their first final since 1986 but belgium were too strong in that semifinal and won 6—0. england will now play for third place against australia. transport bosses are warning that driving conditions could worsen through the night as weather warnings remain in place. storm deirdre has brought wintry weather to scotland, with 1200 homes losing power in the moray area due to high winds. temperatures are set to drop overnight with snow and freezing rain, but what is freezing rain? here's sarah keith lucas, from the bbc weather centre, to explain. believe it or not liquid rain can exist at temperatures below freezing without turning into solid ice, we call this supercooled water. the

problem with that is that when it falls onto cold surfaces it can freeze almost instantly creating widespread ice on roads and other services. this is called freezing rain. freezing rain is quite rare in the uk but where it does occur it can bring widespread disruption down to that instant ice rink effect. warnings are in force and we will keep you up—to—date. this freezing rain has given some eagle eyed photographers a chance to capture some wintery snaps. these from a couple of bbc weather watchers, first this one from bradley baldwin in harrogate — of a water droplet hanging from a tree. next, richard peasland, who sent this of frozen water hanging from some branches in settle in north yorkshire. and finally this from the bbc weatherman paul hudson of freezing water on a car, taken in keighley in west yorkshire. chester zoo was evacuated this morning after a large fire. the blaze broke out in the monsoon forest habitat,

the largest indoor zoological building in britain. our correspondent gerryjackson sent this from the scene of the blaze. all the indications are this was a fire which trickled quickly and spread very rapidly. chester zoo is one of the north of tourism attractions and the uk's most visited zoo. fire crews were called here shortly before midday as the fla mes here shortly before midday as the flames fanned by today's very strong winds raced across the roof of the monsoon forest enclosure. it's a relatively new addition to the zoo, a relatively new addition to the zoo, 3111 relatively new addition to the zoo, 314 acre tropical climate zone. among the species edge homes endangered sumatran orangutans, crocodiles and rear species of plant. as hundreds of weekend visitors were being evacuated from the site, zoo staff were shepherding threatened animals to safety

according to a prearranged safety plan. chloe is a nearby resident whose home overlooks the zoo site and has been telling us about how frightening it was to witness those fla mes frightening it was to witness those flames taking hold. it seemed to be a lot of panic, fire engines, police and even ambulance. concerning. you worried for your own safety? we wear, we are so close worried for your own safety? we wear, we are so close to the zoo, we worried about the house, we have got pets and neighbours. has anything like this happened before? no, there has been speculation over animals escaping but nothing as big as this. the north west and says one person was taken to hospital suffering the effects of breathing smoke, the zoo says all its mammals have been safely accounted for. this zoo a tt ra cts safely accounted for. this zoo attracts around 2 million visitors a year. when it can reopen and when the damage to this part of it can be repealed still unclear. more changes are to come in the trump administration as the president has announced —

via twitter — that his interior secretary, ryan zinke, will leave his post at the end of the year. mr zinke has been facing a number of ethics investigations. danjohnson has the latest from washington. it had become apparent, there were signals in the last few weeks that perhaps the president's support was running out and he's taken the opportunity now to announce he will go at the end of the year, he was dogged by a number of investigations into potential conflict—of—interest, some of the deals he had overseen in his office and some of his travel expenses. he had been letting his wife used government car is anti—chartered a plane at the cost of $12,000 to the taxpayerjust to make sure he got to a hockey game on time. he has always denied wrongdoing but he is now announced he will become the latest figure to leave the white house, to leave the trump team, so many high—level departures over the last two years and the president is still looking

for a permanent replacement to chief of staff, announced last night that the budget director nick mulvaney will stand in an act up in the interim but we don't know how long that'll be four. still a permanent replacement to be found, more rules donald trump asked to fill. some signs he's having difficulty getting the people he wants to do these importantjobs. australia's prime minister has announced that his government now recognises west jerusalem as the capital of israel. scott morrison said australia also recognised the palestinian aspirations for a state capital in eastjersualem and that the australian embassy will not move from tel aviv until there's a final peace accord. the status ofjerusalem is one of the most contested issues between israel and the palestinians. journeys using the two crossings which span the river severn into south wales will soon be toll free. the barriers on the ma, prince of wales bridge, are being dismantled first, with work planned for the m48 bridge on monday. our wales correspondent sian lloyd has more. and just a warning — there are some flashing images in her report.

crossing the river severn into south wales has until now always come at a price. some 25 millionjourneys a year are made. lorry driver craig evans makes more than most. for 17 years, he's been delivering goods from wales across the border. this could be halfway over the bridge, and you're losing time, your driving time, you're late getting the goods delivered. it's just horrific. his firm makes 31,000 crossings every year. until recently, lorries were charged £20 a time. it's good for my company. they've got more money in to invest, which will create more jobs, but the side that i'm not looking forward to is the traffic which is going to come into wales, and from my point of view, it's going to cause more congestion. to commemorate the first crossing of the severn bridge, i have great pleasure in unveiling this plaque.

in 1966, the completion of the first bridge across the severn caused huge excitement, but the volume of traffic multiplied, and 30 years later, the prince of wales opened a second severn crossing. when this bridge returned to public ownership, do wah the uk government announced that the tolls would go. around 100 staff are affected. among them is darren moore, who said he is sad to be losing hisjob but does have fond memories of his time in the toll booths. you'd get people turning up and going, is this the way to exeter? is this the way to scotland? because they've taken a wrong turning, and then you have to break the news that they're actually just about to enter wales. work is now under way to remove the barriers. the aim is to save drivers money and encourage more investment in the south wales economy, but it's predicted that scrapping the tolls will increase traffic on what is already a congested stretch of the motorway. sian lloyd, bbc news, on the m4. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett.

storm deidre has thrown everything at us today, strong winds and heavy rain, some snow and some ice and freezing rain. the freezing rain is quite unusual and it's dangerous, this is what it looks like when it hits the trees on the roads it brought treacherous conditions and we have still got amber warnings for theice we have still got amber warnings for the ice and freezing rain and snow as well, let's look at snow and most of it will be following to the north of it will be following to the north of the central belt, we still have warnings across southern parts, snow in the north—east of england briefly as that icy conditions and icy warnings extend their way down across central and southern scotland and into not running on through the night. so we've got that to contend with and we've also got some windy conditions for a short while in west wales, north—west england, costs not far off wales, north—west england, costs not faroff 70, wales, north—west england, costs not far off 70, the main band of wet

weather sweeping away and then fishing rain and snow over the hills across the northern half of the uk. still quite wintry in scotland, most of the snow by this stage of the high ground, temperatures rising overnight, importing milder air, things coming down and skies clearing in most areas. could be wintry and icy in scotland in the morning, shower is becoming fewer as they well in northern ireland and more sunshine. england and wales cease sunshine in the morning, more cloud in the afternoon and western areas will see showers and longer spells of rain which could be heavy. tomorrow will not be as wendy, the weather and not anywhere near as bad as it has been today and the temperatures will be a bit higher. the cold air getting pushed towards scandinavia and into russia, and things coming from the south—west, a milder direction means more changeable. for most of monday we

are in between systems, could be misty and murky over the hills in scotla nd misty and murky over the hills in scotland otherwise, cloud increasing, showers breaking out ahead of this mean rain band, the winds picking up as well but it's a milder air, could get double figures. the rain will stick around on tuesday, it will be wendy, sunshine and a few on wednesday. goodbye. hello this is bbc news with rachel schofield. the headlines: the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, says it's time to build a cross—party consensus on brexit, as the church of england calls for national reconciliation. an investigation is under way after a woman and her eight—year—old daughter died in a house fire in nottinghamshire. over 60,000 protestors take to the streets in france, clashing with police, in a fifth weekend of anti—government demonstrations. staff are "working hard" to track down all the animals after a fire at chester zoo.

now on bbc news — we look back at the commemorations throughout