this is bbc news. theresa may's brexit deal — a senior minister suggests mps could have a free vote — and rejects a further referendum. let me tell you that if there is another referendum, which i don't think there will be, people like me will immediately be demanding the best of three. a five—year—old boy becomes the third victim of a house fire in nottinghamshire. his mother and eight—year—old sister died yesterday. bad weather is blamed for a fall in the number of high street shoppers on one of the busiest days before christmas. environmental groups criticise the deal struck at a un climate conference in poland saying it doesn't go far enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. and liverpool return to the top of the premier league with a 3—1victory over man united — reaction to that and the rest of the day's sport in half an hour. good evening.

a leading brexit supporter in the cabinet has suggested that parliament will have to look at other options if the government's withdrawal plan is rejected by mps. but the international trade secretary liam fox dismissed suggestions of another referendum, on the grounds that it would perpetuate divisions in the country. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. it is not hard to find divisions over brexit outside parliament. protesters with different views fight for attention. and it is not much different inside. at least the prime minister has found someone willing to play ball today. and yes, she still

hopes she will get her deal through parliament, but many are now discussing what happens if she fails, with growing talk of another referendum. the international trade secretary, liam fox, campaign for brexit and hates the idea. supposing we had another referendum, supposing the remain side won it by 52—48, but it was on a lower turnout — entirely possible. let me tell you that if there is another referendum, which i don't think there will be, people like me will be immediately demanding it is best—of—three. where does that end up? today, two of the prime minister's closest allies denied they were toying with another public vote, her chief of staff said he wasn't planning one and her effective deputy said he has long thought it was a bad idea and would be divisive. those hoping for another referendum say it might eventually be the only option. if parliament is gridlocked and there

is no way of resolving the impasse and no consensus can be met in parliament, then how else do you resolve this other than referring it back to the people? but many senior labour figures are deeply uneasy about asking the people again, and don't know on which side they would be if it happened. look, we're going to have to discuss tactics if and when we come to that. you don't know. andrew, policy is decided by our members in a democratic and open way. in the last month, the prime minister has spent more than 12 hours on her feet in the commons defending her brexit plan, and there will be more of the same tomorrow. what we are now witnessing here is a noisy conversation on all sides exploring other possible options. or to put it another way, working out what on earth to do next. and let's speak to chris mason. as you said there, lots of brexit

noise. what have we been hearing today? what is happening now is it is bursting out into the public consciousness because for a while there have been a lot of private conversations about what might happen next year. the honest answer is nobody knows and nobody is in charge of driving it but as it stands, it is looking ropey for the prime minister in terms of getting her deal through. what we're hearing from cabinet ministers, liam fox and amber rudd, the work and pensions secretary in a newspaper piece yesterday, is the beginning of an exploration about what might happen if the prime minister's deal falls. and lots of people looking around the chamber, looking at what could happen if there isn't a majority in terms of endorsing anything. there probably isn't a majority to reject new deal, but then what. and that is

why you are getting a sense of buoyancy for those campaigning for what they call a people's vote. for a long time that was seen as a quite marginal thing that stood little chance of actually happening. now there is a sense that it might. there are plenty of critics of the idea of another referendum, including those who don't like brexit at all, who fear it would look good and offering people a chance to turn over the chance from a few years ago, and some have talked about the chance of civil unrest. some are now saying, look, it mightjust unrest. some are now saying, look, it might just be unrest. some are now saying, look, it mightjust be the only option left on the table if everything else is rejected. many people are describing this as a stay of execution and as far as labour goes, they won't really meet in the middle, will they? this talk of cross—party dialogue, they are not going to make theresa may's job

easier. they are not because that is not theirjob. they are wanting to govern, and if they can bring down the government, they will attempt to get a general election and win it. clearly, that is what they are trying to do. it might be quite hard. where are they on brexit? a good question. i think you are only an television until midnight so we could be going until dawn if i give you the full answer. they are, at the moment, conflicted, just like the moment, conflicted, just like the conservatives. these are big parties that got 40% of the vote eachin parties that got 40% of the vote each in the general election so they will of course represent communities that love and hate brexit. so their current position is, and here we go, they want to defeat the prime minister's plan, then they want to secure a general election and if they achieve the first but not the second, all options are on the

table. as you saw in my report, a senior labourfigure table. as you saw in my report, a senior labour figure tying himself in knots about where labour are because they are nervous. others are deeply uneasy. and a bit of a spat with past leaders of the country. we reminisced are having a pop at the previous prime minister. it is no surprise that a senior politician criticising the labour politician but normally prime ministers, sitting and previous, have a certain decorum about how they act publicly. not today. the prime minister saying very strikingly that she thought tony blair, a labour predecessor, was using language and mounting arguments that were unbecoming of the office he once held and the people he represented. tony blair hit back strikingly, saying, no, it was responsible, and not anti—democratic to talk about

another referendum, and it should be something parliament was willing to entertain if, and it comes back to this, all of the other options are exhausted. too many options! as ever, thank you, chris. the mother and two children who died following a house fire in nottinghamshire have been named as justine, isabella and harvey collison. the blaze in collingham broke out yesterday morning. gerry jackson reports. justine collison and her eight—year—old daughter isabella died in the fire at their home yesterday. today, five—year—old harvey died in hospital. husband and father gavin is fighting for his life. the flames broke out at breakfast time in this quiet village lane, leaving no time for most inside to escape. the child ren‘s grandmother was led to safety. close neighbours had battled to rescue the others. it's an adrenaline rush, to try and get in, to help them, because i saw my dad and this other bloke who were trying to get in so i thought,

all efforts to get through the door and help them. but obviously we couldn't. it wasn't until we saw the fire brigade, you know, open the front door that we saw that the inside was just thick with smoke. from learning that they were first in a serious condition to what's happened today, it's got more and more upsetting, as today has gone through, it's got more upsetting. police and fire officers have spent a second day here at the property trying to work out what caused this tragedy. meanwhile, members of this close—knit community have been gathering to pay their tributes in the wake of the tragedy so close to christmas. mrs collison was a much respected teaching assistant at a local school. today, a colleague was among those paying their respects. she was lovely, could not meet a nicer woman. she was always smiling, and adored her children and her husband. a special service was held at the village church, all saints, this morning. it will remain open every day between now and christmas. gerry jackson, bbc news,

collingham in nottinghamshire. bad weather and an increase in online buying are being blamed for shoppers staying away from the high street — on what is usually the busiest weekend before christmas. retail experts say numbers across the uk yesterday were down almost 10% compared with the same time last year. here's our business correspondent, joe miller. a bruising year has left many of britain's large retailers fighting for survival and more than ever, banking on a busy festive season. but heavy rain heaped more misery on the high street yesterday and prompted many to stay dry and shop online. there was a sliver of hope for retailers last week when footfall rose 6% on the year before. but figures from analytics firm springboard show a drop of 7% on saturday if you include retail parks and shopping centres

and a drop of 9% on the high street, adding further gloom to one of the worst novembers on record. sunday saw better weather and a small recovery on the high street. but overall footfall was still lower than in 2017 and analysts see few bright spots ahead. we've see consumer confidence drop, we've seen costs increase and in general, i think people are very nervous about spending. the british retail consortium predicts that sales will pick up in the next few days as more people rush to buy last—minute food and presents. the fate of one chain in particular may rest on such a surge. debenhams, which lost a record £500 million this financial year, has rebuffed an injection of cash from the self—styled saviour of the high street mike ashley. his company, sportsdirect, which rescued house of fraser, had a stark warning for its wounded rival. we've put this offer in to invest another a0 million, and it really is kind of the electric shock to wake them up to what is probably the last chance saloon.

some suspect mr ashley, who was already debenhams's largest shareholder, wants the first claim on its assets if it collapses — an allegation the company rejects. but well debenhams and other struggling chains mightjust be able to afford to keep the billionaire at bay, neither they nor mr ashley's retail empire can afford a disappointing christmas. joe miller, bbc news. diane wehrle is marketing and insights director at springboard — a retail analysis firm. thank you for talking to us here at bbc news. foot fall in the high street, they have fallen out of step, really. yes, this year footfall has been step, really. yes, this yearfootfall has been hit hard. it is poorer than we anticipated, and we forecast for december is a drop of 4.2% and it would be in line with that or possibly even more. the first half of the month was very poor with

drops of 6% and 5% so it is a challenging time for retail. the retail sales figures were not impressive, putting it down to consumer confidence being paul with brexit —— being paul with brexit approaching. nothing particular with black friday and then storm deirdre. it has been a combination of very u nfortu nate ci rcu msta nces it has been a combination of very unfortunate circumstances this year. early this year we had terrible weather in march and easter is in march this year, which is always bad for retail because the weather is not great. april with it because easter was in march. then we had this hot summer which felt good to begin with for retail but then people stopped buying things and when to do other recreational activities. then finally, in the week leading up to christmas, the

peak trading week, we had terrible weather again. it has been a terrible issue for retail but underlined that our economic issues that are affecting how much consumers are willing to spend. consumer confidence is really low, wage inflation was outstripped by price inflation for a long time and people had to resort to savings or credit cards so consequently a lot of households are now carrying an awful lot of debt. that is really really back their spending and you combine that with a continued increase in online. it is at a slower rate this year than it has been. even black friday didn't bring online spending up by more than 3%. it is not like black friday and online is robbing the high street, people are not spending. retail makes up for 20% of the uk economy. how much make or break is this pre—christmas spending spree for our retailers?

christmas is a critical time for retailers. some, like toy retailers, it could represent as much as a quarter of their turnover in and entire year. stores make up for 18% of our entire retail spend. it is much, much stronger in december. if they are not spending, we are not in december and it affects the viability of retailers. analysts have described this year as a year of distress. we have another week of christmas shopping left. anything to look forward to? in some instances we might see some uplift. we have a full trading week before christmas, and that helps. what we do know from the agency is that footfall tends to peak on

friday, despite the fact we have another full weekend. people tend to do their shopping before the weekend and do family and friend things at the weekend. some people are still shopping but the peak days are behind us by friday. so if shoppers decide to make the most of this week and the weather is supposed to be more miles, hopefully we will see an uplift. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news. theresa may's brexit deal — brexiteer cabinet minister liam fox suggests mps could have a ‘free vote' and rejects a further referendum. a 5—year—old boy becomes the third victim of a house fire in nottinghamshire. his mother and 8—year old sister died yesterday. bad weather is blamed for a fall in the number of high street shoppers on one of the busiest days before christmas of

the busiest days before christmas. environmental groups have said a deal struck at a un conference in poland does not go far enough in tackling climate change. delegates from nearly 200 countries did reach agreement on how to implement the landmark paris climate accord, and they outlined plans for collective rules on cutting carbon emissions. but the commitments are not legally binding. here's our science editor david shukman. for years, we have known how each cluster of smoke adds more carbon dioxide to the air and raises the global temperature. but only now has the world inched towards a deal to try to tackle this. the talks in poland ended with scenes of excitement and relief. the polish minister in charge had managed to overcome some very difficult arguments. and many governments see this as a breakthrough. we made a major step, and we also showed that european union is the frontrunner. we really tried hard to bring the parties together, work together, and we are quite satisfied

with the outcome of this night. so, where does this leave us? most significant is a new set of rules for how countries cut the gases warming the planet. that was sorted. but the deal was voluntary, so we will now have to see what individual governments actually do. on finance for developing countries, to help them go green and prepare for the impact of climate change, there was some progress but they say not enough. promises of much deeper cuts of emissions in future, which scientists say are needed very rapidly, that'll have to wait for another time. the small island nations say the deal does not go far enough. faced with rising sea levels and the threat of devastating floods, they say bolder steps are needed. we've got 12 years. this here today doesn't really solve anything. i think we've got to do practical things. we've got to cut down

the emissions drastically, in terms of emissions. so i think, working together, i think we can achieve what we want. the real test now is whether the deal eventually leads to fewer warming gases entering the atmosphere. so far, all the talk over the past 25 years has failed to achieve that. david shukman, bbc news. police in the belgian capital brussels have fired teargas at demonstrators taking part in an anti—migration protest. the protests, called by flemish right—wing parties, are against a united nations global agreement aimed at fostering cooperation on migration. the largest member of belgium's ruling coalition, the right—wing nva party, left the government last sunday in protest against the prime minister's decision to sign the agreement. bosses at chester zoo say they're devastated after revealing they were unable to save some species of insects, frogs, fish and birds

in yesterday's fire. the blaze ripped through the monsoon forest enclosure. many of the animals, including the critically endangered sumatran orangutans, were led to safety — and new homes within the zoo have now been found for them. juliet phillips reports. chester zoo has described it as one of the toughest days in its history. and you can see why. the fire that ripped through the monsoon forest building has now been put out, that the damage caused but the damage caused is still being keenly felt. the monsoon forest here at chester zoo is a very complex environment with everything, from stick insects to snails to fish to frogs and some of those small animals, very sadly, have perished in the fire. what we're really happy with is that we managed to save all of the large mammals and it appears as though virtually all of the birds are fine as well. zoo workers bravely helped rescue animals, including endangered sumatran apes, by guiding them into outdoor enclosures.

they worked with the fire service, whose investigations into the blaze are already beginning. the fire service is confident that we know where the fire started and we are confident that was an accidental fire. we are nowjust trying to determine the exact cause of that, and that requires a lot more detailed investigation of the areas that we have identified. the building itself was built three years ago but was part of a £40 million project. it is the largest indoor zoo exhibit in the uk. the fire meant part of the zoo was closed off today, but that didn't seem to put off visitors. we are here more to support everyone. i hope they can rebuild and carry on doing what they are doing. it is difficult. it is a very difficult situation but at least, you know, we can still come to the zoo and it is still open today, which is really positive. a fundraising page set up by the zoo reached its £50,000 target within hours.

the rebuild here will take some time. investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing. more than a0 people have been injured in a huge explosion and fire in a restaurant injapan. at least one person is said to be in critical condition after the blast in the early evening in the city of sapporo onjapan's north island of hokkaido. the cause of the fire is not yet known but local residents reported a strong smell of gas. gemma coombe reports. bright orange flames and thick black smoke. the immediate aftermath of a huge explosion in a busy japanese restaurant. it happened at 8:30pm local time in sapporo, the capital city of the northern main island of hokkaido. the japanese news outlets said the force of the blast was so strong, a number of nearby buildings collapsed. firefighters battled the flames,

warning people there could be further explosions. video from the scene shows dozens of people gathered on the street, which was strewn with debris and shattered glass. authorities haven't revealed an immediate cause but witnesses have reported smelling gas in the area. more than a0 people were hurt, one of them critically. a group of mps has said the rollout of a type of smart motorways — where the hard shoulder is permanently turned into a fourth lane — should be stopped. the all—party group backed campaigners who say having no hard shoulder puts motorists and recovery workers at risk. england has more than 100 miles of all lane running smart motorways, with 225 miles more planned. 11.7 million people watched the final of strictly come dancing

on bbc one last night. the documentary presenter, stacey dooley, won the series with her professional partner, kevin clifton who'd been a losing finalist on four previous occasions. our arts correspondent da vid sillito has all the details. it's the final! four couples, three dancers and from the very beginning, it was actually a former pussycat doll who set the standard. the big lift from dirty dancing was flawless. ten! the score, perfect tens. and those a0s kept coming. this athletic show dance on a raised and revolving platform. i personally as a dancer feel that you stretched yourself beyond limits, you've learned techniques

you are not familiar with ever before, you have brought to the show a life, a style, and i truly am grateful for you. of course, craig did try to find a fault. i had a slight problem with your right toe, darling, but then i decided to get over myself. ten! not a point was dropped all night. but matching those scores dance after dance was faye tozer. this hollywood glitz in high heels on a very high top hat... at the end of this routine to fever, it was perfect tens across the board. what an end of a journey. wow.

this is really high. but when it comes to a journey from being a non—dancer to doing this... ..youtuberjoe sugg was more than holding his own, ending with a charleston. you are the biggest surprise of this series. from a marathon night of dancers tonight, you have just got stronger and stronger and it's an extraordinary amount of work you have put in and it has paid off, you are a star. for tvjournalist stacey dooley, it began with an explosive show dance. everything was thrown at it. the crowd loved it. bruno tried to describe it as her greatest hits. your greatest hits. but craig...

i wasn't that keen on the dance. it was the lowest score of the night. and even at the end of a paso doble described as having power and passion, she was in fourth place. all that matters is what the public thinks and they saw it rather differently. stacey and kevin! even more emotional was her professional dance partner kevin clifton. after five finals, his first victory. there it is, the winner of this year's glitterball trophy, stacey dooley. david sillito, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. good evening. the weather this week

will look different to last week. once the storm has swept through, taking away the snow and freezing rain, we are now getting atlantic winds coming our way with more cloud waiting in the wings. bringing rain for wales, england and southern scotland, heading out into the north sea come the early hours. apart from a few showers, clearing skies and turning chilly overnight because the wind will be quite light. a touch of frost here and there with a couple of icy patches as well. the eastern side of the uk should see a decent day on monday with sunshine around after the chilly start. further west, the wind will introduce more cloud from the afternoon and a bit of rain arriving as well. gaels are likely come the end of the day but with the southerly wind it will be mild. double—figure temperatures in ireland and southern scotland. hello, this is bbc news

with lu kwesa burak. the headlines: theresa may's brexit deal — a senior minister suggests mps could have a ‘free vote', and rejects a further referendum. let me tell you that there if there is another referendum, which i don't think there will, people will immediately demand that there is a best—of—3. a 5—year—old boy becomes the third victim of a house fire in nottinghamshire. his mother and eight—year old sister died yesterday. bad weather is blamed for a fall in the number of high street shoppers on one of the busiest days before christmas. environmental groups criticise the deal struck at a un climate conference in poland, saying it doesn't go far enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions.